Take It Back
by wizzerl
Summary: Takes place a few weeks after Prodigy. Day is wrestling with guilt after hurting June. June is trying to immerse herself back into the routine of her new life with little success. After Tess comes to visit Day he realizes that he may not be doomed to die. Twist and turns at every corner try to figure out the truth behind Day's illness and follow June as she follows her light.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok so this is my second fanfiction. I highly recommend that you do not read my first, it was very bad and I'm probably going to delete it soon -_- . I just finished Prodigy and had the sudden impulse to write this. (Trust me I've gotten much better at the whole writing thing) Please tell me what you think or if you would like to be my beta. I have a really hard time with spelling so please don't kill me about it. Any other criticisms I am happy to listen to. If I get a name wrong or if you think people aren't acting like they should I will be fast to fix it. I cannot promise the quickness of updates though.**

**(Takes place a few weeks after the end of Prodigy)**

**DAY: Chapter one**

There are many things that will never leave my mind. Over and over they'll replay themselves in never-ending nightmares. There's my mother being killed, my brother taking my place, the boy I had left blind to the world, and the father that I couldn't convince to stay. All of their faces sneer at me every chance they can get. I have tried to convince myself that such horrible things weren't my fault, that I had done all I could do. Now there is a new face that dominates my nights and there is no way I can convince myself that her pain isn't my fault.

They were my words that did this and my actions that lead us here. All she had ever done was try to help and here I am leaving her as though she were the one at fault. I've talked myself into circles wondering if this was the right thing to do. June is smart, smarter than me. She would have been able to make a decision on her own if I had told her about my impending death. But I couldn't stand the strain I would be putting on her, the weight of such a choice. I didn't want to pile the burdens so high. She would have a good life here without me, one filled with luxury and food. She would be able to use that military mind of hers and play with her dog and visit her brothers. She would train for ten years and shadow the Elector of the Republic. My gut twisted at the thought. Anden, the current Elector, was fond of June, my June. The image of their kiss was still fresh in my thoughts and the idea angered me. He could betray her. Hurt her even as his father had. I had sworn my faith to him but only because of June and I had left her. Did that give me the right to question him once again?

I felt my fists tighten and my head pound with a splitting headache, bringing me back to reality. I _had_ to do this. I wouldn't be able to stay with June. I couldn't do what my father had done to my mother, leave one day and never return. This was for the best. I would give her at least this much, she deserved a life.

I tugged at the collar of my military grade coat, a dark black with white stripes. The chains on my gloves made too much noise for my taste but I doubt anyone would be able to hear them over the roar of the crowd. I shifted my weight to my toes, getting ready to leap from one window ledge to the next. There was enough shadow to keep me hidden if someone wasn't looking too closely. My problem was that everyone had their eyes open for me now-a-days.

"First it was the Republic and now it's the civilians." I almost laughed at the irony.

It was near impossible to reach my apartment through the _door_. I had to use the window facing away from the street, something I'm sure the Elector had made sure of before giving me the place. It was very useful when trying to slip in and out without being noticed…much. In my apartment without a sound I quickly realized that I was not alone.

Thomas was sitting in my living room. What a strange thought, _living room_, it could have easily fit my entire home but I guess this was my home for now. His dark hair was stark contrast with the white couches and his black uniform did little to help him. If he had wanted to surprise me with an attack this was exactly the wrong way to do it. So why was he here?

Plush carpets muffled my steps and the roaring from the already open window helped even more. I didn't trust Thomas, not one bit. How had he even gotten into my apartment in the first place? There were guards outside my door twenty four seven. Surly he wasn't one of my guards was he? June had talked before about her uneasiness about him and later his reasoning behind his actions. She even talked about his _relationship_ with Metias or lack thereof. I guess it made sense but that didn't explain him being within striking range of me. Not really a wise choice on his part. If this was a trap I would gladly fall into it if it meant me getting at least one good hit at him.

A few more steps, a quick breath in, and a well-aimed kick at his head was all it took for me to be noticed. He ducked and turned on me ready to block an attack that I had already started. I couldn't help but enjoy the way his skin gave way under my fist or the choking sound he made as he sucked for air. He slumped to the couch, chest heaving and raised a hand. After a few coughs and with blood streaming from his nose, he spoke.

"I know we're not exactly on the best of terms." His voice lacked the authority it used to hold in the interrogation room.

"Damn right we're not." I spat the words as if they burned. I wanted to hit him again, hard. I kicked him again, right under the ribs. He didn't even let out a moan.

"I understand that but you have to-" Thomas coughed and stood shakily, straightening his jacket and pushing back his hair. If it wasn't for the nose bleed I would have thought he was ready for inspection. "You hate me and that is fine, better actually. I just thought you should know about June." My stomach dropped and so did my fists. It had been weeks since the talk with June. I had been avoiding her like the plague ever since. "She's not the same. After…after Metias, I knew she would be depressed but you adding _this_ on top of it are not helping matters. I'm afraid she'll do something drastic."

"And whose fault is that _Thomas_." The name sounded like a curse with the force I spoke it with. Quicker than I could blink Thomas had his fist curled around my collar, knocking the coffee table over in the process. There was a feral look in his eyes, like an angry alley cat hungry for food it would never find.

"I am well aware of that Day. Do you think I would forget something like that?" He shoves me into a large armchair. Thomas is pacing now, as if his feet have to match his thoughts. "I am supposed to keep June safe. I cannot carry out that order with you screwing it up with your boyish spite." That was not what I had expected but I try to keep the shock off my face. Spite, did he think I was _punishing_ June? I guess that was what I had said. 'Too many things had happened between us'… as though her helping had only driven us apart. A complete lie, but it was one that I needed June and Thomas to believe.

I relaxed my shoulders and turned my gaze to the wall as though bored. I fingered the chains on my gloves. Thomas still paced the floor like some caged animal.

"It was in no way meant as a punishment. I simply could not stand to be with someone who has betrayed the ones she loves so often."

"As far as I can tell June has only ever helped you. She has turned her back on everyone for _you_ Day. Even when you yourself couldn't tell, it was always for you." Never have I ever seen such emotion in him outside of the interrogation room. His words are true and I strain to keep the full impact of them off my face.

"What does it matter to you? You've betrayed her as much as anyone. Why are you so desperate to hook her up with the criminal you once swore to kill?" I let a small smile slip by as he rears back and almost howls. Where has the calm and collected Thomas gone? Where is the cold blood killer? Has he gone soft or am I just able to push the right buttons?

"You are the only thing she has left. I have no idea why, but she trusts you. She sees you like she saw _him_, and you're going to take that away." Shame washes through me cold and familiar. The grief in her face flashes before my eyes. I try to convince myself that she is just another face, just another person that I can no longer reach. It's hard to do that when said person is just down the street, seeming to calm Thomas smoothes the wrinkles in his uniform. "I hope you at least give this a second thought before you wreck everything. I know there must be something else going on. You'll never tell me if there is…but I would like to think that you would at least tell her." With a small bow Thomas turned and left, closing the door. I could hear him alert the guard outside that he was leaving. Apparently he had been _invited_ in. I rolled my eyes at how easy it had been for him to get in here. I'd have to bring it up to Anden later.

After all that yelling the apartment was quiet and empty. Eden was at school, a rare thing for someone of his age, but to be blind too? He would have a hard life but the amount of notes I had in my pocket would help.

I straightened up the living room and tried to get Thomas' blood out of the white couch…it didn't. I might order a brand new one just because I could. The thought brings a giddy smile to my lips. It is quickly replaced with remorse. I didn't want to think about what Thomas had said. I didn't want to even try to cling to the truth in them. My movements were robotic and soundless. I was completely focused on locking the doors and starting dinner.

June would be better off without me. Everyone knew it except for her it seemed. Maybe I could convince her if I moved away, some other city perhaps? I sighed, heating up a can of soup and tugging off the noisy gloves, throwing them into some corner of the enormous apartment. I wasn't meant for places like this, not built for it.

June's face appears before me and I almost double over with the guilt. I had put that expression there. I had installed that sorrow. She was hurting because of me and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't take back those words, we both knew it. I would just have to suck it up and live with it. I would have to continue on knowing that I had done the right thing. But I would also be a coward and run away like always.

That night as I lay in my bed a solid thump startled me to my feet. It wasn't exactly a solid thump, but compared to the noise I make it might as well have been a gun shot. They were light steps though, too far apart to be Eden who I knew still slept in the near darkness.

Across the room and to the door I tried to see by the slim line of light cast by the window in the hall. There, silhouetted by said window I saw a figure that I knew better than myself.

I had ordered them to be released but she had never been captured in the first place. She had told me not to try to find her and I hadn't, not that I'd had much time to. Never did I think she would try to find me though. Never did I think that the Republic's twenty-four hour guard would be infiltrated twice in one day either.

There, standing with her hands on her hips giving me a look that was more memory than sight was Tess.

**Please review, I love reviews! ^_^ I really will try to update but I'm not making any promises. If I were to update, I would have to say that it may be…once every two weeks…probably on Sundays.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so it's official I hate writing for June. I had planned on doing from both of their points of view but I'm running into some problems. In the books Day and June are very similar in actions and thoughts and are really only different with speech patterns. If June seems a little strange please don't blame me -_- I'm getting there, figuring out how to make her different from the way I write Day. Hope you like the chapter! Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Legend or Prodigy**

**JUNE: Chapter Two**

Work was great, better even than before. I wasn't doing anything particularly important but that was mostly due to the fact that things had quieted down. People were happy that Day and I were safe. I couldn't walk down the street anymore because of it. Anden was convinced that I should have guards around me at all times. Thankfully I was able to talk him out of it. Everything was fine. I'd wake up, eat breakfast, go to work. And then I would come back to my apartment to start it all over again. It was the same schedule as before, with Metais, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying.

I looked down at the uniform I'd been folding for the last hour. I only had a few of them and this was the last one to be put away, but I couldn't convince myself that it was ready. I could always find another wrinkle, a crease where there should be smooth cloth. My hands were shaking.

Where had it gone, this life of mine? When had familiarity turned to distance? I used to treasure this life and now it was as horrid and boring as a block of stone. I longed for something, not exactly the adventure. I was still too tired to want that again. But I did want those links I had made. I wanted to be able to see a face and recognize it and smile. Yet here I am shut up in my apartment like I'm some scared mouse in a hole.

Ollie shifted by my feet where he'd been sleeping. I pet his head and sighed. I had been cut from the world I had found and left with the one I had earned. But It was one where everyone had already gone, empty.

I set the uniform aside and called Ollie to me. Walking to the door I tied his leash and shrugged into my dark coat. It was getting colder and snow would be here soon. Ollie wagged his tail and yipped at the prospect of a walk. A hat hung on a hook just for these kinds of outings. It was a weak disguise but one none the less. It would suffice for the short time I'd be out. The last thing I needed was to have people crowding around me asking questions I didn't know the answers to.

Outside the wind was blowing and few people walked the streets. The public hadn't yet found out where I lived exactly so I didn't suffer the same fate as _some_ people when coming and going. I tightened my grip on the leash. It was my fault. He had every right. I wasn't allowed to hold anger or resentment, because I had done those things. I was a double-crosser and liar. I did things as long as they helped me and no one else. Helping Day find Eden didn't even start to cover the debt that I owed to him. I had done exactly what Thomas had done. I covered and schemed and people were dead because of it. I would be spending the rest of my life trying to fix it but some things can't be mended so easily.

The pavement was hard under my boot and the sun was getting low in the sky. I would have to be in the apartment soon if I didn't want curfew to catch me. Not that I would be given much of a punishment with Anden always casting his shadow over me. If anything I would be met with open arms and given some fancy food before being escorted back to my apartment.

I still hadn't given my answer despite Day's words. I guess I was hoping Day would just show up at my door and tell me different. I wanted him to convince me not to go, that he didn't want to lose me. It had been weeks, and he hadn't made a single appearance. No matter how hard I tried to arrange an _accidental_ meeting he would slip away.

Buildings rose high above me and windows slowly became dark, one by one. Paneled doors were locked and tired children were ushered inside. A man glanced over and gave me a look that lasted a little too long, his dark eyes focusing on my shadowed face. I tugged my hat lower over my face and quickened my pace.

Thomas had checked in on me the other day, not that I wanted or asked for such a service. He still took my brother's last words to heart. Even he had noticed the way I had been acting acting.

"June, I'm worried. It's not healthy living here all alone." He had said, standing in my doorway. I refused to let him in.

"I'm not alone. I have Ollie." I had kept my face carefully blank

"You know full well what I mean. Weren't you friends with that Day kid, what happened?" I winced despite my best efforts at trying to hide. Thomas' eyes narrowed and his posture grew rigged ever so slightly.

"Did he hurt you? June you know you can tell me anything." Once again he tried to make his way into the apartment, as if I were hiding something from him.

"No he didn't hurt me. We just decided to drop the act. We all know a friendship between him and I would have never worked." I was grinding my teeth and fisted my hand around the door. Why was I showing this much emotion. It wasn't like me to get so riled up. "Now if you would please leave. I have to get ready for dinner." With that I slammed the door without waiting for a reply.

I grinned at the memory. Thomas knew all too well what I thought of him and although we were back on speaking terms I refused to pay him kindness.

The memory drove my mind to another though. The reason I had been in such a rush to have Thomas leave had not only been for my peace of mind but also because I had had dinner plans…with Anden.

It wasn't a date, or at least that's what I kept telling myself. Anden had been inviting me for dinners and lunches all that week and I had finely caved.

"Have you reconsidered my offer?" he had said while taking a sip of his wine. My own glass had been stubbornly untouched. Anden had rented an entire restaurant for us to eat at. The food was delicious as usual but I had eaten here before. The taste felt bland and boring on my tongue. I had worn a dress that Meatis had bought me, something that I sorely regretted. It was appropriate for the occasion with its flowing skirt and light color. The bodice was constrictive and the lace overwhelming. This was how someone of my status was supposed to dress. I found myself longing for the easy way I had acted around Day. I wanted to be seen and loved for the first glance given. I twisted the ring around my finger. It had been bent beyond my repair when I had used it to pick the locks to my handcuffs, but I had been able to take it to a jeweler only a few days ago. I had considered throwing it away after that night, but I found that I simply could not let go of this last thing. I had had so much on my mind to think that Anden thought I had had _any_ time was laughable.

"I have, but I am still thinking it over." I had lied. Trying to ease the suddenly tense atmosphere I took a sip of the wine and regretted it. There must have been a high alcohol content because I suddenly felt my thoughts turn hazy around their edges. I remember Metais telling me that I wouldn't have a high tolerance for the stuff.

"I would rather you give me an answer soon. You only have a few more days before everyone is shipped off to training." I nodded dumbly and we finished our meals in silence. It was a good offer, the best I could ever hope for. Anden had already promised that there wouldn't have to be any romantic relationship involved. This didn't change the fact that I would be away from Day for ten years. A lot can happen in that amount of time. My world had been thrown upside-down in less than one year.

Ollie barked at a bird, pulling me out of my thoughts. I smiled and rubbed his ears. I would miss Ollie too if I were to leave. They would never allow him to be with me there. We passed by a boy with bleach blonde hair, a popular fashion statement now that Day was so popular. His hair wasn't nearly as long but he seemed to be deep in thought, hands shoved in his pockets. His brow creased in worry and he shook his head as if to dispel a thought.

It was then that I realized something. The night Day had come to break things off with me. He had meant to say something else. It was a small motion but an all important one. Like the boy, Day had shaken his head and switched tactics. He had been so worried so driven, as if something horrible would happen if he didn't get the words out.

I stopped in my tacks, forcing the boy to catch my eye and then angrily go around me. I didn't care though because my heart was beating a mile a minute. Was Day being threatened? Was I conceited enough to think that was the reason he had left? It made sense though. To suddenly leave like that was not like him. Though, we had had a fight in the tunnels. I had done what I thought was right but that put his ideals aside. It was inconsiderate of me. But things had worked out, we were living better lives now and Eden was safe. The only reason he had left me must be something darker. Had the Colonies gotten a hold of him, fed him some lie? Was Eden being threatened again?

I spun around so quick Ollie yelped but I didn't dare pause to make sure he was ok. Day's apartment was only around the corner, I had already passed it. One hand holding my hat to my head, the other in a death grip on Ollie's leash I made my way to his door. There weren't any crowds at this hour so it was easy for me to take the stairs two, three, at a time. It was already dark and probably passed curfew, I was lucky no one had seen me but I didn't care. I came to his door and pounded my fists into the wood. He could be mad all he wanted, he could call me insane and conceited, I had to know that he was alright.

It felt like hours before the doorknob finally turned and the barrier was gone. I was met with blonde hair but not the eyes. The eyes that found mine were clouded with blindness. If Day had let Eden answer the door so late at night something had to be wrong. Despite his inability to see Eden was able to show emotion in those orbs. They held fear.

"Day, is that you? I couldn't find you in the room." My breath caught and Ollie whined. Where was Day, where was my light?

**Ok so I updated a little early…a lot early. But don't expect this to happen all the time. This was kind of a filler chapter anyway. :P I know, bummer. I'll try to get the next chapter in by next week but I have a lot of math to do. If you guys see any problems don't hesitate to tell me…unless it's spelling I already know I'm bad at that thank you very much :) That and I love reviews, I need them! So don't be shy and write one :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok, sorry that this is late. You guys should be happy though. I might be able to get the next chapter in by this weekend with all the snow we're getting over here! I want to thank everyone for the great reviews, helpful tips, and encouragement! I would also like to ask if anyone had any problems with the last chapter. Some readers were confused with the flashbacks going on. I realize that in a traditional fanfic I would label things as a 'flashback' but I think this disrupts the reading process. If anyone would rather I tell you when a flashback is about to start/end please tell me and I'll make some changes I personally don't really like flashbacks so it shouldn't be that big of a problem. Read and review please, it makes my day :D**

**DAY: Chapter Three**

"Tess, what are you doing here?" She was just standing there, her eyes fixed away from me.

"Day-" My name comes out choked and garbled from her throat as though she's spent her time swallowing stones. "Day, I need your help. I'm in trouble." My mind jumps to the Patriots. Could they be up to something new so quickly? Maybe she's being hunted by the government because Anden really is a liar and I should have never trusted him. Not that I ever really had in the first place. "The Colonies are planning something, something big." Her breath comes in gasps. I move forward trying to see her face in the dim light. Is she hurt? She angles herself away from me ever so slightly. That single movement sends my stomach plummeting. I reach out a hand to stroke her hair like I did when she was younger. She's older now but she's so distressed, her feet shuffling and those eyes never really meeting mine. I feel like she still should get that comfort.

"Day I'm so sorry." They're watery words but I hear them loud and clear before Tess grabs my hand. I try to twist away but I'm unrepaired. Something comes at me and volts of electricity jolt through me until I'm on my knees. My eyes are still open, just barely. The dark room becomes a shade darker. "You have to see that this is wrong Day. She will hurt you so much worse than this." Tess is eyes level with me now and her face is finally clear for me to see.

Her eyes are heavy with bags and her skin is too pale. The faint glimmer of guilt shines in her eyes. If Tess would go to this extent something is very very wrong. My mouth opens trying to speak but she just shakes her head. "I know you love her Day. She's so wrong for you but I have to realize that she loves you too and nothing will change that. But the Colonies are winning Day. Instead of being smart and taking their side you lay down with the dying." The Taser in her hand moves to her pocket, keeping it out of sight. "If you're going to live past this year you have to come with me." My head is shaking before I can stop it. There are so many things here that I cannot leave. Eden has to be taken care of. I have a job that has to be done. People depend on me for that. Then there's June. She may hate me I don't care, as long as she gets that happiness. She's been sad for too long.

Feeling is starting to come back into hands and feet. The darkness that had encroached on my vision is leaving bit by bit. If all Tess came here for was to talk, the need for the Taser seems highly unneeded and unlike her. I would have let her in the front door if she'd knocked. I would have laughed at the thought had I been able. "You won't come, I understand that Day. That's why I have to do this." It's almost as if a curtain has fallen. All at once my world goes black.

There are voices and I feel as though my head was crushed in by an iron fist. Of course the voices are real, at least I hope so. If not I will have to tell my doctor that my tumor has grown faster than expected. There are two men arguing. It's still night or at least it's still just as black in here…wherever here is. At least I hope it's still the same night that I was previously conscious in. If not my life has gotten much more complicated.

Eden must be worried sick. Even if it's only been a few hours he must already know I'm gone. Nightmares wake him up periodically, this being one of the many reasons we share a room. The image of Eden waking in a cold sweat searching for me only to find an empty bed makes me shake. He's only been blind for a few months. I can only hope that the guards help him.

As my mind clears so dose my sight. I'm in a van with very little light…obviously. My hands are bound and so are my feet. They were very smart with this because the knots are nice and tight, digging into my wrists and ankles. There isn't a gag thank goodness. At least I can talk to myself in this sound proof van, wasn't that so considerate of them?

The arguing voices stop. It's in this moment that one of the voices sound familiar. It's Thomas. My breath catches and I still, straining my ears.

"She isn't there I already told you." It's defiantly Thomas speaking.

"How could she not be there? We must have missed her by minutes." I don't know this voice but it sounds like a man's. "It's after curfew there aren't many places she could be. Maybe she's paying a trip to Andens?" There's a scoff and a scuffle. The soon to be argument is interrupted by a sudden buzzing.

"I just got a reported break in. We should check it out." Thomas' voice is low and controlled. Completely different from how it was last time we spoke.

"Are you crazy? We're trying to find this girl and your first thought is to actually do our jobs?"

"The report's from June. She says someone's broken into Day's apartment, may be a possible kidnapping." Some laughter is exchanged and I tune out the rest of the conversation. They're looking for June. What reason could they have for June? Is Anden really a double crosser? I half growl at the thought. It has to be him. He's the only one who could be behind it. Who else uses his own men to do his dirty work? But why in the world was June at my apartment? Out of all of the crazy things I've heard tonight this is the craziest. Was she going to come and talk to me? I have the sudden thankfulness to Tess in this moment. Never have I been so happy to be kidnapped than I am now.

The van's moving. It happens so fast I fall down and end up with my face on the cold metal floor. It's a patrol van, something very commonly seen on the streets after curfew. Meant to hold rule breakers like myself in and prying eyes out. There are no windows except for the windshield and even that's heavily tinted. Any chance of someone seeing me is out of the question. My hands are tingling from the rope. I can hardly wiggle my fingers let alone free them. If I had something sharp, anything really, I might be able to get out of this. Of course the door to the van can only be opened from the outside so I would have to escape from the front. This would mean breaking my way through the three inch glass barrier separating me from the driver.

I sigh in defeat. My best chance is to try to escape when the door to the van is opened. Of course this would mean that June would have to be captured first. The thought of Thomas being the one to betray her like  
this makes my skin crawl and my hands ache to strangle his snake like throat. Already he has wounded her heart. Already he hopes to do it again. What kind of a person hurts someone as interesting and complicated as June? She's like a candle with a gem at the bottom of the wick. You have to sit and watch the flame before you get to know what color she hides. Then again the flame is just as beautiful. Everything about her is grace and warmth. Thomas ripped her apart. Now that she's sewn herself back up again, he's just going to tug at the stiches. Then again it's not like I haven't done anything to be proud of.

I flat out lied to her. After all she had done in hopes of making things right. She gave up her life and her country to help me, someone she thought to be a killer. Only to have me spit in her face.

Of course I hadn't expected us to meet again like this. I hadn't meant for us to meet at all. I was supposed to disappear and only be remembered as that crazy boy she dated for a while. Not the boy who broke my heart that then got kidnapped with. That was too wordy of a title.

The van has come to a stop. I'm left waiting, hoping that June would get away. I know she won't though. She trusts Thomas too much. There's some whispering but that's all I can tell. The walls are too thick and their voices too soft. One is a girl's though. That much I can tell.

There's a gun shot, loud and crisp and too close. Fear crawls up my back. They wouldn't, never. She's too important. To my horror the door is opened. Light from the yellow street lamp blinds me before I see her.

She's limp and unmoving. Her hair, usually so neat, pulled up in a ponytail, hangs limp against her face. It drapes across her shoulders and I am overwhelmed with the need to pull it back and revile those eyes of hers. They must be wide and open. I have only ever seen them analyzing the world. Having her hair in the way must be aggravating her to no end.

"June" My voice is horse. Despite their lack of blood my hands are shaking. My whole body is cold and numb. She can't be…this isn't how it's supposed to go. No, no, no, no. "June come on, look at me." Thomas tosses her in and slams the door shut.

**Hey…yeah, sorry I thought this might be a good stopping place :P I was wondering if you guys wanted the chapters to go Day then June every time, or would you be alright with me messing with the order? I will try to update on time next chapter. Once again thanks for the reviews! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok I know it's late and you all have every right to be mad at me. In my weak defense that no one probably cares to hear, my boyfriend broke up with me. I know sad right, never happened to anyone else before :P . That was sarcasm in case no one got that. Please no flames for sounding mean. Anyway I did Day's point of view in this. I kind of think you guys would have rather had his than June's at this point. I don't think any of you really want to reread what you already know so yeah…that's my reason and it obviously has nothing to do with the fact that I hate writing as June…yup…none at all.**

**DAY: Chapter four**

Not for the first and probably not the last, I curse the rope biting into my wrists. The van is once again dark. I can't even see June anymore. I can't tell if she's bleeding out or if she's breathing. With a jolt the van is thrust into motion and I hear a groan come from my left. Relief pulses through me like water to a burn. I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. At least she's alive, for now. The need to help her is so overwhelming I'm surprised I haven't broken out of the rope by shear will.

Before I can even try to make my way to her, a pain erupts under my skull. This is exactly the wrong time for this to happen. I can't think and I can't move an inch. It's as if my skin has been encased in stone in hopes of keeping the pain in. The blackness around me turns a startling white. No, please, I try to will the light away and squeeze my eyes shut as if it could help. If I black out now she will surly die.

….(Still Day)…

My eyes open and I can't tell if time has passed. There are no noises from June and my heart beats in a panic. I'm on my stomach so it isn't too hard to crawl over to where I had last seen her. She's still there, though too cold for my liking. Never have I seen June like this, except for that sickness weeks ago. Usually she is so strong, stronger than me. Seeing her like this is disconcerting and makes my stomach do flips. A lump in my throat makes it hard to breath and my thoughts muddled. If there was a time when I had to think straight now would be great.

My hands are still bound and for all I know it has only been minutes since June was thrown in here. Or it could have been hours and the June I'm trying to save is long gone.

"Don't think like that." I shake my head and instantly regret it as a wave of nausea wells up in me. Turning my head I empty my stomach and hope we'll be leaving this godforsaken van soon or the smell would kill us both.

My hands being no good I strain my ears to hear a breath and try to recall everything I knew about a bullet wound. I couldn't feel any blood on the van floor so she wasn't in danger of bleeding out. Then again I couldn't exactly tell what was blood and what wasn't any more. I pushed down another wave of nausea. "June can you hear me?" My voice was horse. "June if you can I need you to tell me, somehow. I know you're hurt, just tell me where." Time passes second after aching second and I hear a very small "Dam it" I don't think I have ever been more grateful for a curse than I am now. Her voice was weak but there all the same.

"Shoulder-"It was a gasped and bit out word. This surprised me. A wound to the shoulder though painful, would not probably put June in this kind of state. She would be uncomfortable and maybe black out but not this still, corps like state. I had seen her take on much more than this.

Still the dilemma of my hands stopped me from doing anything productive. I had been brought here in the middle of the night in nothing but my sleep clothes. June had most likely been stripped of any kind of weapon, and she wouldn't appreciate me checking her for one. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. Now was not the time. Then there was the two guys driving the van. Thomas' ugly face sprang to mind and I almost growled. Thomas must be shaken to the core. He has done exactly what he promised he'd never do. The guy was rotten at his center there was no doubt about that. The hate fills my blood with heat and energy, and a very helpful idea.

"Hey Thomas you coward, what the hell did you do? At least look her in the eye when you kill her!" It's a bluff of course. June is very much alive but for all he knows she has somehow not made it. The pain in my voice is very convincing. Only moments before I had thought her gone…this girl who changed a world just for me, she could have left me. My voice only rises. "Can you at least clean up the blood I can't sit here in it!" The image is too vivid, red liquid seeping into my pant legs and staining my hair. I kick the wall separating us. "Get back here and finish me too. Metias would kill you if he were still here." There's a dim thud. This isn't as soundproof as I had thought it to be. "Were you not satisfied? Could you not help finishing off the whole family, the stain that refused to be washed clean? I bet she followed you out without question. She trusted you and all you did was-"My words were lost as I was flung to the floor. The van had stopped.

I had hardly been able to stand again before light flooded the small space.

"I told you no real bullets. The darts were enough to knock her out for the trip. You and I will get our asses handed to us if she's dead." Still dizzy, I see Thomas climb into our little holding cell. He looks as clean cut as ever if it wasn't for his face. It has morphed into nothing but worry and grief. His eyes hardly glance at me before falling to June. She is playing the part of a corps perfectly. No breath moves her chest and not even as the light hits her do her eyes move. As I look I realize that June isn't bleeding. Hopefully Thomas will be too panicked to notice. He doesn't

Thomas gets closer, kneels down beside her and raises his hand to check her pulse. She understands and it's scary that I can _tell_ she understands. There's no movement, no secret sign that tells me when to act. It's as if one second I'm standing and the next I've launched myself at the other man. I can hear the cry of surprise as June lands a hit. I wonder if Thomas is happy or angry that June lives.

I had only guessed where the other man had been, though I had been roughly correct. He stood outside the van a little to my left. We hit the dirt and I hear something crack under my hands. I see a glint of a knife and almost cackle at the sight, this is exactly what I need. It only takes a second for me to leave an opening to my throat, and then block with the very hands that he would have rather been tamed with rope. The blood rushes back to my fingers and before I can feel the sting of circulation I raise a fist. A punch to the head and a stolen knife to the shoulder knocks him out cold.

I've only just tucked the knife in my waist band when June is thrown out of the van. Instead of the usual graceful landing expect she lands on her back and rolls a few feet. But she's back up again before I can run to help. And then she turns stock still. Her hair is out of its usual ponytail, trailing behind her. She still wears her street clothes, simple things used for lying around the house. She could have just gotten back from a walk, not about to attack her brother's best friend.

"I wouldn't move if I were you June. You and I know full well what this is" I can't see Thomas very well. He's hidden inside the van still, but June can see him and the fear on her face is as clear as I've ever seen. She glances at me, a silent message but this time I don't understand.

"Perhaps Day would like to know? You are always so curious, gets you into too much trouble I think." Thomas steps out and he's holding a gun. Though this shouldn't have frozen June as it has, she's seen more guns than I have and that's a lot of heavy artillery. What made this so frightening to the usually fearless June? "You know what this is don't you June? Meitas must have let it slip once or twice. Even if he hadn't I'm sure you have figured it out by now, having experienced it firsthand." He isn't paying any attention to me. If I'm fast enough I could jump Thomas. But if he hears me he's sure to shoot June. With the way she's staring at Thomas I don't think I want to know what is so strange about that gun. My feet shift and my hands clench in preparation. I know June has already gotten the message. I'm about to strike when Thomas speaks again. "Don't think I'm going back on my word June. I'm only doing what's best for you." She's shaking now though you could hardly tell. Just the slight twitch of her shoulders, the tremor in her boots. I feel a knot in my gut. I have to move now.

I'm already half way there before he even registers me moving. One hand goes to steady his gun but I've already gotten a hold of it. Aimed at the ground, the bullet fires with a bang, it sends shock waves through me. Through my fingers and up my arm, but I don't slow down for a moment. Somewhere behind me I hear June but I shut her out. My other hand goes for a punch that's quickly blocked and matched with a swift kick to my stomach. I lurch back and land with the wind knocked out of me. My head is throbbing with the promise of a headache that could kill but I'm holding the gun now.

With cracking shakiness I stand and point the gun at Thomas. He only laughs.

"For all that genius you have Day you still aren't able to figure it out. Go ahead, shoot." He opens his arms wide and plants his feet firm. June comes up and puts a hand on my arm. Every nerve I have seems to chatter under her touch.

"Day, look" Gesturing to where the bullet had misfired, where it had hit the ground I almost wretch again. There is no chipped stone or lodged bullet. Instead there is something akin to a splattered insect ground into the street, all liquid and nothing more. I can only think of one thing the Republic would use as a weapon that looked like this. Thomas had threatened to inject June with the plague.

My throat closed and my vision blurred. My stomach dropped and I fell to my knees. I was wrong. Thomas had already done it. Back then while I huddled in a van. He pointed this gun at her and gave her a death far worse than any wound could deliver. June was infected and she already knew it. Another does would quicken things, make symptoms more violent. That's why she was so scared.

A hand grips my shoulder and I can feel her digging her fingers into the cloth. What must she be thinking? What is the weight of this betrayal? In the background to the blood rushing in my ears I hear Thomas laugh again.

**Yeah I'm sorry about the cliff hangers. They must be driving you guys crazy. Hope you leave a review though, I love, love, love hearing from you guys! Thanks for reading everyone.**

**PS: I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far! You guys make my day :D**

**-_- that pun was not intended, just saying. Oh, and next chapter will be in June's point of view and should be out...Monday at the latest…maybe.**


	5. Chapter 5

**JUNE:**

Metias had never said a word about this. He never spoke about the plague unless it had to do with the new vaccines. Kneeling, I tugged at Day's shirt. He needed to move. Thomas may be disarmed but that didn't mean he wasn't still a threat.

"Day come on, we have to go." My words were met with mumbles, desperate words too fast to catch.

"He won't listen June. He-"

"Don't you dare call her that! You talk as though you haven't just killed her." Truly I was shocked by Day's words. Hadn't he told me he hated me? If those words had been true why was he in such a state? Curled in on himself and shaking to the point that his words were jilted. Day gripped the hand that I had on his shoulder. With the touch Day let out a small cry. Had I hurt him, was he in pain? That was when I realized that the hand he now held was the one with the paper clip ring.

"I would hardly say that I've killed her. If anything I have saved her life and am about to save yours. Not that you deserve it you selfish prick. After all this you still manage to make her upset." Thomas tugged at his gloves, making the chains catch the light. Day stood and placed me behind him as though I wouldn't have been able to protect myself if Thomas was to attack. Then again my legs felt too weak to stand and my stomach was lurching. Already the plague was taking its toll.

"How exactly have you saved her, I would love to know." Anger seethed between his words hot and hard to keep on the tongue. Through strands of blond hair I could see the road. It was obviously not one of the Republic's. The stone was not the soft grey of cement but the black of asphalt. I didn't know if the material used to build roads was different depending on the area but if it wasn't then we were far away from home. If we were away from the Republic, and were instead in the Colonies than a passing car might not be of much help. Then again that was debatable since the Colonies loved us also. Being held hostage on the side of a road by a Republic solider might mean help or at least a ride. Day could easily take down Thomas. It was only distance that could cause some difficulty.

My hands were clenched with the strain of keeping myself upright. The world before me was turning to a watercolor of images. I quickly blinked the blurs away. Now was not the time to faint.

"That would ruin the surprise now wouldn't it Day? I would much rather you both calm down and get back in the van. "Thomas' eyes had changed. They were no longer crazed but dulled. He had calmed himself down now that control was in sight.

"You can't really think that we were born yesterday?"

"No not at all." Thomas straightened his already straight jacket and took two steps forward. "I am simply weighing your options. In one hand you have your freedom. In the other you have the possibility of curing June." His shoulders stiffened his breath stopped. For a moment I could feel his thoughts moving, considering everything. On my toes in order to reach I whispered into his ear.

"Day, don't listen to him. You and I both know that there is no cure. I was vaccinated many times. I should live through this." As I spoke my lips brushed his ear and I tried to ignore the sudden heat that contact brought me. I had to focus. Thomas was still coming toward us.

"Then there's the matter of you own health isn't there Day? The Colonies' medicine is far more advance then what the Republic has to offer. Already they are preparing for your arrival as well for June's. This will only happen though, if you get in the van." I studied Thomas' face. Despite his training he was often open with expression. This was one of the reasons he was so good at getting information. It was hard to hide all that rage. The problem with this openness is that it was easy to tell. Thomas was speaking the truth.

Day didn't move and neither did I. What did Thomas mean by Day's 'own health'? Was he sick? Fear struck me cold where I stood. Why didn't he tell me? Or was sickness not something shared with someone you had been allied with then hated?

"She'll be cured. Can you promise that? Do they have it ready for her? The stuff you gave her won't-" Words caught and broke in the air. "She'll survive the trip there?" I can't believe it. Was he really considering this?

"Did you not hear what I said? I've been vaccinated. I'll be fine-" I was grasping at straws. His mind was set but I had to change it.

"June you can't see it." Thomas smirked as Day turned to look at me. His eyes were sad, holding memories that I knew he was reliving.

"What do you mean? Day I'm fine. I might be a little pale but after a day or two I should be-"

"No June, your eyes, they're already changing." I sucked in a breath. Eyes filled with blood. That was a symptom of the plague.

"That can't be possible. If my eyes were changing-"I shook my head. "That takes a long time to happen. If I was infected only last night…that can't work." Yes maybe if I denied it, sheer force of logic would make my eyes drain and my body well. Logic would keep the panic at bay. Maybe if I think long and hard enough the facts a mirror would bring me could be denied.

My hands were shaking. Vision was clouding. Hopefully the poor sight was due to the distress and not the blindness that the plague could cause. I could more feel Day move than see him. He was looking towards Thomas.

"We'll go but only if you guarantee June's safety. If anything happens to her, and I mean anything, I will not cooperate. I'm sure you didn't bring me here for the company. You need me for whatever reason. If I even have the slightest inkling that June has been hurt I will go as far as to kill myself. Do you understand?"

Sickness overcame me. No, this was not how this was supposed to happen. We needed to escape. The Republic could help me. I couldn't be infected.

"No, Day we should go this isn't right we-" My stomach turned and my legs were going to give out any minute. _Sleep, just sleep June. This is a bad dream. If you sleep now you'll wake up and everything will be better._ That made a lot of sense. I must have fallen asleep in the van or maybe even in my apartment. Perhaps if I gave in now everything would be fixed. It's not like I could fight like this anyway.

"June you have to stay with me alright, June." Day's words were far away as though I was listening to him underwater. There was a sound, loud but fuzzy. Was that a shout or a shot? I strained my ears but most of the conversation was lost to me.

"I told you-"

"-Trust me she's-"

"-you betrayed-"

"-swear on his death-"

"I swear."

Then there was silence. No sound but that of shuffling. The world was moving around me. Strong arms held me. Weakness overtook me, draining from me like a bucket with a leak. Such precious energy, I was supposed to be using it for something. What was it that I was going to do? I can't remember. All I know is that this drowsiness around me stuck to my skin. I should just sleep, give up and think about this when I wasn't so damn tired.

"Not yet June, you can't sleep right now." It was almost as though the voice could read my thoughts. But who was this voice? It was so familiar. I should know it yet I couldn't seem to recall the name.

The strong arms left and cold metal bit into my skin. No this couldn't be metal it had to be teeth, huge white teeth stuck into me like knifes. Already I could see the monster behind those teeth. The red eyes lit up the darkness and fear flooded my blood. Despite my inability to move I opened my mouth and let out a scream. I screamed for the voice to save me, to keep the metal turned monster away from me. I screamed and screamed and at last that voice and those arms returned, rescuing me from the cold monster. But then the arms turned into snakes. They curled around my waist and tightened around my shoulders. I tried to bat them away but my arms were too weak. The snakes grew more violent as the voice tried to calm me.

"June you're safe. Nothing is going to hurt you, relax." But something in me told me that the voice lied. This was a trap. Everything around me was filled with hate. It was a hate I could feel and it pressed the air from my lungs. I couldn't breathe. Gasping I clawed at the darkness but nothing came and I was flung into a state of endless dreams shadowed by nightmares.

**In case you guys can't tell she's hallucinating, just putting that out there to avoid confusion. Other than that sorry for the wait and the shortness -_- …again, and please review. I love reviews :D **


	6. Chapter 6

**Just warning you guys there is some cursing in this chapter (nothing super bad) but I just wanted to warn you. If you don't like the swearing than I will be happy to send you an edited chapter. But this is a 'T' fanfic.**

**Woot! Look how fast I got this to you guys. I know you're all proud of me. Thanks to everyone who has review so far. I love to read them and I can never wait to wake up and read them. Keep them coming!**

**Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing mostly because I have no money :P**

DAY:

I hate feeling helpless. It's something that I've felt too often I think. I've sat by and watched too many people fall victim to this plague and I couldn't stand to see it happen to her. She thrashed about and screamed and moaned. It was as though something was eating her alive from the inside out. I couldn't do anything and as I sat watching her I still can't. How is it that I could scale buildings and change an entire government but I couldn't save this one person?

I had thought that leaving her was for the best. Instead I realize now that it was only leaving her defenseless. She may be strong but two is always better than one. What if I had been with her when Thomas stopped by? Would I have been able to tell? Would I have told her to stay inside, to not follow him? It didn't matter I guess because 'what if's' weren't going to help her now.

I held her a little tighter. She was calming down, falling into sleep. The creases in her brow were smoothing and her once fisted hands were now limp. My own hand reached out without thinking. Her hair ran through my fingers and traced the curve of her face, from her hairline across her cheek and down to her lips. A familiar something stirred in me to lean down and kiss her. I squashed the feeling quickly. Now was not the time to think about that. She was sick and in pain. I winced at that. Her pain was my pain and I felt it deep in my heart.

Thomas had said that June could be cured. This sounded like complete bull shit to me but there was a chance that for once Thomas wasn't lying. If what he said was true than there was no question. Above all else I had to save June. I had to keep this fascinating creature in my arms alive and well. What kind of person would I be if I let her fire die?

How long has it been? I can't tell in this total darkness. My arms and legs are numb from holding June but I don't dare let her go. She's grown frighteningly cold and I can't bring myself to take her source of heat away. She's stirred a few times. Sometimes it's quiet and if I wasn't so watchful of her I might not have even noticed her waking. Other times it's violent and I dodge flying fists. As she sleeps she calls out to the darkness. She calls for Metais and I. That just stirs the guilt in me. Even now after all I've done she still wants my help. Soft cries turn to shaking sobs but her eyes are still closed.

They say that the plague can cause powerful hallucinations paired with very real pain. I once stole a book on it when I was still on the run. I had thought, foolishly, that just by looking I might be able to prevent this plague from changing my family any more than it already had. I had failed miserably and only managed to scare myself. First it would appear in the eyes, blinding the patient. Then it would get into the brain. It would swell until bursting. This caused hallucinations in its earliest stages. Later the patient would suffer from something bordering on insanity, loss of communication skills senses and later death . But at the rate that June was going she might not live even if cured. The harm to the brain was coming to the point where it could not be reversed. Thomas better get us there soon or there was hell to pay. I refuse to have another loved one die while I'm sitter there doing nothing.

"You're so strong June. Please don't let this defeat you." I shifted her head to my shoulder and my hands around her waist. The movement brought pins and needles to my legs. Ignoring the feeling I tucked my face into the crook in her neck and tried to calm myself. "You're not done yet June. You and I both know that you still have to kick my ass for being such an idiot. How could I think that I could live without you?" My throat felt raw as though hands were clawing through me. Her breathing was slowing and I hopped that this was because she was finally falling to a deeper sleep where her visions couldn't reach her.

I reached down and held her hand in mine. There in that darkness I felt the ring still on her finger. It had been a silly idea. In all reality if you looked passed the meaning it was just some twisted paperclips. But she had found the meaning and held it close. I twisted the ring as she was prone to do. In that moment I let myself imagine what a life with her would be like. I thought of us working together and coming home together. There would be a family perhaps? I sighed at the thought of having a home full of people. I missed the sound of footsteps on the floor and laughing well into the night. I missed the warmth that came despite the outside chill. She could give it to me. Despite the odds against us I let that light of hope in. Such a thing is dangerous, hope. It can do just as much damage as a bullet but it could do just as much good. Right now, I needed all the good I could get.

In my musings those day dreams must have become real dreams because I felt my eyes drifting shut. My body was getting heavy or was that just June? It didn't matter because June was in my mind too. Which one was more real than the other? One was full of pain while the other was only warmth. It was then that my eyes closed and sleep took me quietly. My arms slackened around her waist and I fell into that hope of mine so warm compared to this cold metal.

My first thought after waking was damn it. I had not meant to fall asleep at all. I had wanted to watch over her and make sure she was safe. Instead I was betrayed by my own self and fell asleep. I cursed myself again and again for my stupidity.

I blinked at the harsh light and brought my hands to block it. Why is it so bright? Panic seized my chest in a fist and I bolted upright. I was in a white room and June, she was gone. I threw myself from the bed I was on and ran for the door. It was thick and heavy but I yelled anyway. My thoughts were going everywhere.

They took her and now she's as good as dead. They'll use her as a hostage if she isn't.

Torture sprang to mind and I emptied my stomach right then and there. All too clearly I could see it. She would be chained from the ceiling and beaten by some unknown man. They would ask her for information that I knew she would never give.

Weak and tired I clawed at the door. How had I not woken? How had they been able to take her from me when I had held her so tightly? My voice soon gave out and then my legs. I sat against the door and waited. It was all I could do. The person I had told I couldn't live without may already be dead.

There were no windows (once again) so I still didn't know the time. I may have fallen asleep or I might have managed to keep myself awake. It didn't matter I guess because at last there was a knock on the door. I scurried away just in time to see it open. In stepped Thomas. I sprang from the floor and lunged.

I was on him in a moment. His face gave under my fist again and again. I would not stop until he was bloodied. An image of June in a similar state sprang to mind and I paused. Thomas shoved his fist into my stomach and my breath rushed out of me. Quickly a shock jolted through me and I fell to the floor. I found this situation very familiar.

"Can't you go five minutes without attacking someone?" My mouth still wouldn't work despite the vile I wanted to spew at him. This was his fault. She was hurt or worse and it was all because of him. "You have to calm down or else we'll have to sedate you and you'll learn nothing." He looked over his shoulder and closed the door. From his pocket he took out a small black box. He pulled loose some wires and fit it to a corner of the room. "It's a recording. This will replace the audio feed with one from my interrogation with you. " Thomas than picked me up (I still couldn't move) and sat me against the wall. Sitting in front of me he began. "June is fine. She is being treated now. Though, she will not be completely cured." He winced at that and shifted. If I could move I would have throttled him. "This is a form of incurrence. You have to cooperate or she will die to the plague." I felt like I was going to be sick again. What else could I do when they had her life hanging over my head? I tested my mouth and found that it had regained some feeling. I spit at Thomas and he hardly flinched. Brushing the saliva off his shoulder he opened his mouth to continue.

"How is this helping anyone? How can I protect her when she could be anywhere? I need her here."

"Protecting her is my job and I will make sure she comes out of this alive, unlike you and your half-assed help." I was ready with a rebuttal about how I had done _much_ more than _him_. "Look we don't have a lot of time for me to explain. I didn't bring June here to die. She's here to be protected. You and I both know that the Republic can't win this war. I promised that I would keep June alive no matter what. So the colonies and I have struck a deal." His eyes darkened. "I give them you and June. The colonies will use the both of you as bartering chips. The Republic will come for you without thinking and this war will end quick and easy. If you guys do this without too much trouble and if it works…you both will be granted immunity."

I felt like my mind had been shut off. There was no thought only shock. How could I get out of this? June firmly believed in Anden and the new government of the Republic. Of course I wasn't exactly sold on the idea due to the fact that Anden was a girl stealing bastard who had had a snake for a father. But if June had gone as far as to save his life, than I would follow her. She would be crushed if she knew why she was here. "But the colonies can't have you dying of natural causes in the middle of the war. They have their best doctors here to get that thing out of your head." He nodded to me.

As I sat there and Thomas explained what I would be doing while I was here my mind kept turning something over and over. It was like a tough bit of meat that I couldn't seem to chew. How is it that June was _cured_ when the Republic hadn't even gotten further than vaccinations? Either the colonies really were ahead of the Republic or Thomas the liar was being lied to.

**DUN DUN DUN!**

**Ok guys I am very very sorry because I forgot to mention last chapter that our wonderful reader jabberjay is now my beta. Isn't she so nice? :D She has edited this, the last, and all soon to come chapters. Send her your thanks! As usual please review!**

**PS: Trust me I have not forgotten about Eden, it's just that Day is under a little stress. Trust me he will feel plenty of guilt when he realizes that he has no idea if he's alright. :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Woot! Here it is chapter 7, how lucky are you? Just wanted to point out (due to the fantastic review I got the other day) that no I am not Marie Lu, thanks for the compliment though :D**

**I don't own anything, or do I? o.O**

**No really I own nothing.**

**JUNE: Chapter 7**

My head was pounding. Everything ached with cold. It was the kind of cold that dug into you and took something away. What was it that was missing? Yes, there had been something beside me before but what had that been? Maybe I'd only imagined it? The snake around my throat seemed to be just as real as that warmth had been. Did that mean that the snake and the warmth were either real or fake?

Voices talked above me, above the darkness that held my sight. I couldn't recognize any of them. If only I could see. Was something blocking my eyes? No, I couldn't feel anything on my face. Were all the lights off? That didn't make any sense. If there wasn't any light how would they see? Was it night time then and they didn't want to be seen?

It was that thought, the idea that they were trying to hide in this darkness. It planted a seed of panic in me. What were these strangers trying to hide from? Or to be more serious, _who_ were they trying to hide from?

"Day, where's Day?" The words slipped between my lips as though they held weight. My lips felt numb and I'm sure the words didn't come out the way I'd meant them but the strangers seemed to understand me well enough. I felt them shift their hold on me and I realized someone was carrying me now. They were walking, steps wide but slow. They didn't want to be heard.

My mouth opened to scream. They were taking me away from Day. I couldn't leave him, not now. Before I could make a sound my mouth was covered by a rough hand. I bit it until I drew blood. Then again I was only guessing at my jaw's strength. Everything in me was numb to the core. I heard a yelp and expect to be dropped. Instead something else muffled my voice, a cloth I think.

The cloth smelled strange, familiar. It was too late when I realized that I was losing consciousness. I awoke in an empty room. My nose wrinkled at the smell. It carried the stench of sweat and blood. Never have I known of a place to be soaked with it like this place was. Lights above showed that the room was empty save for a bed shoved in the far corner. I was not on the bed to my neck's dismay. I was on the floor and I have to say, my body did not appreciate it.

Everything ached. Everything was too cold for me to think. First things first though. I have to get to that bed. I couldn't think of anything other than sleeping my troubles away in a nest of sheets. My legs were stiff but crawling was still an option. I had only gone a few feet before I was covered in sweat. My arms were shaking and my breath was ragged. Everything was starting to blur but I couldn't let that stop me. I needed to sleep. It was all I wanted.

After curling up on the mattress I clambered for sleep. Of course I wasn't allowed such a luxury. Without even a knock and with a creaking door, someone entered this stark white room. I stilled and tried to slow down my breathing. _I'm asleep._ I tell myself. Maybe they'll go away if they think I'm knocked out.

Hands wrench me from the bed. The grip on my arms is sure to leave a bruise. I'm already so weak. Was so much force really necessary? I was in no condition to fight.

Dressed in a black uniform native to the Colonies the man dragged me from the room. His shoes were shined and gave a soft squeak with every step. They must be new. Gold buttons stood out against the fabric of his clothes and did more to decorate than to hold his jacket closed. Thin lines of rope marked his rank at his shoulders. I tried to lift my head but a wave of nausea forced my eyes to the floor.

The tiled floor was white along with the walls. Or at least I think the walls were white. I couldn't see over my own bowed head. For all I knew the walls were polka dotted half way up. Then again that sounded highly unlikely.

"Where are you taking me?" Hoarse words fell from my lips, tripping over each other. I almost sounded drunk with all the slurring I was doing. I didn't expect my capturer to answer or even understand me but he was proved me wrong on both.

"I am taking you to where Day will be treated." I almost didn't take the next step. Day, they had gotten him. I had thought that he had escaped or was spared. Why did those people try to quiet me when stealing me from the van if there was no one to hear? My eyes sneaked back to the man. I still couldn't get a look at his face. Was he lying? Was he making sure I wouldn't try to escape? If Day really was here I would waste precious time trying to find him before finding an exit. Then again, if Day is here and I escaped, he would most likely die.

Hands tugged me up and I realized that my knees had hit the floor as I'd collapsed.

_That's all riding on you even escaping in the first place._ The thought was unpleasant but true. I wasn't going to be leaving this place soon. Already I could feel invisible hands smearing the paint of my world. Day had said something about my eyes. Was I going blind? It was highly probable. For the time being I was going to believe what this man said, at least to an extent.

Left, right, right, left, second door, left again. I whispered these words to myself as we went. Mapping this place was going to be impossible. It was enormous. Each hallway too long to consider with door lining every inch, where there were doors where rooms. There may even be more corridors behind those and on and on. But it might just be the plague playing tricks on me. I could have sworn that I saw a rat under my feet.

At last the man stopped us before a nondescript door. Inside through my blurring eyes I saw Day. I almost cried with relief and sadness. He was here, but they had gotten him too. A stinging pain riddled my right arm. The man had finally let go. He'd been cutting off the circulation. Something was placed against my head. What was it? I couldn't bother myself to care.

Day in his long hair and rumpled clothing was here, right in front of me. I smiled. His face did not show the joy I felt. He only showed fear and anger. The floor fell away and we were back in the tunnels. That would make sense. I had been sick then so I must be sick now.

He ran up to me but the pipes on the tunnel wall held him back. He was screaming at me, yelling and thrashing about. The pipes moaned against him but held firm.

"What do you want? What is it? Get away from her!" I realized that the words weren't at me but whatever he saw behind me. I turned to look and found only tunnel.

"Day, it's ok. There's nothing here that can hurt us." Speaking was hard and the lights were too bright. With one hand I clutched my head to stop the pressure building behind my eyes.

"I'll do whatever you want. Just don't shoot. Please, there's no need for this. I already said I'd help."

The world shifted and the tunnel disappeared. I was back in the Colonies' base. The room was ready for some kind of operation. A table was set up and machines collected dust beside it. A woman with dark hair spoke to Day in whispers I couldn't hear. But my full focus was on the two men holding Day back, like he was an animal ready to attack.

"I understand already. Can you get that thing away from her now?" Day's words were gritted out as though they tasted bitter on his tongue.

"Now Day you realize why we can't do that don't you? She is a powerful person just as you are. This is all standard procedure, nothing life threatening." The woman reminded me of honey, sickly sweet and hard to get away from when you're stuck to her. Of course it also could be due to the bees buzzing around her head.

Day shrugged on a plastic smock and lay himself down onto the operating table. My legs were shaking beyond use now so I sat on the ground. It was more of a collapse really. A doctor came and the operation began. Muffled words were passed between nurses and tools were handed out. It was only when they brought out the razor that I started to cry.

Lock after lock of hair fell from his head. How could they do this? Didn't they realize the importance of those hairs? Each one grew because of the time he had spent alive and free. It was his badge of honor and they were stripping it from him. I cried and fell into a heap on the floor. My whole body was shaking. I was so tired and everything hurt. I wanted to go to sleep and wake up in my apartment. I wanted Day to hold me and not have to lose the hair he was famous for.

In the back of my mind I knew I was being ridiculous, the hair would grow back, but I didn't care. It wouldn't be the same. The realization that this wasn't just going to be another adventure between Day and I, hit me hard and strong. We were going to come out of this changed. It was never going to be the same. This is what scared me more than any promise of pain.

** Hey everyone! Thanks for reviewing as always, lightens my day. Don't forget to thank Jabberjay for the awesome work she does for this story. I haven't forgotten about Eden, really. I also will tie in the Princep thing. More is to come…at some point in time. I have to work community service hours for NHS on Sunday so I will try my hardest to get the next chapter out before then. **

**PS: Sorry for the short chapter…but hey look! I just added a few more words :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**First things first, I would like to thank Jabberjay and the ridiculous amount of soda that helped to bring you this chapter. I would also like to clear up some confusion regarding the last chapter. June has been hallucinating for the last few chapters. I realize that this could be very difficult for the reader and I apologize for that. I try very hard to make these hallucinations as obvious as possible but if something doesn't make sense simply assume that it isn't real…if that helps any…sorry -_-**

**If you as a reviewer do not understand something simply tell me and I will have Day explain it in the next chapter…much like I'm going to be doing in this one.**

**DAY: Chapter 8**

Deep breaths, it was all I could do, breath and try to calm down. Cursing and flailing wouldn't help anyone. June was always someone I could count on but with her in this state I realized that this time, I was on my own. It was a sickening feeling but a true one all the same.

My bed was lumpy. No matter how much I tossed and turned I couldn't get to sleep. My body was heavy with it, the exhaustion that weighs through your bones and pulses with your blood. That and the image of June held at gun point wouldn't leave me.

That picture was carved into me with a dull blade. It was not the glint of light off the gun that stuck with me. It wasn't the reflection of hazy sickness in her blood darkened eyes, or even the way she moved as though a puppet jerked on strings. The thing that I couldn't shake was the way she had cried. It takes a lot for June to cry and if she ever did I thought she would try to hide it. I thought she would be ashamed of such tears and then try to make it better. That's what she's good at, fixing things. Instead she cried loose and open. There was no furious wipe of the face or a hardening of the eyes, trying to stop such emotions. It was almost as if she were a child, resigned and unable to understand. She couldn't communicate what was hurting her so and all she could do was sob. It was the picture of helplessness.

It killed me. She was supposed to be strong and powerful, that was where her beauty grew. Instead these people had torn her down to this fearful person. How is it that I couldn't keep that from happening? Was I so pathetic that I couldn't save one person? How is it that a few doctors holding me back kept me from someone as important as June?

More faces hit me and I cringe into a tighter ball. My mother, my brother, everyone was gone. I could have helped but I was too weak. What was I thinking? June could never be protected by someone like me. Just with a few words I almost destroyed her in the name of helping. How could someone so strong be so fragile all at the same time?

I smiled at the thought. If I ever asked her that she'd simply say that she was too complicated for me to understand. In a way such a thing was true.

I must have fallen asleep at last because when I woke up Thomas was in my room. I have to say that having Thomas randomly in next to your bed is not a welcomed surprise. If anything it was a horribly annoying creepy nightmare. With heavy eyes I rolled away from him. Maybe if I ignored him long enough he'd go away on his own. Of course I wasn't half as lucky.

"I brought you a blanket."

"Good for you."

"I thought that with all that hair gone you might be cold."

"Do you want an award or something? Go away." In all honesty it was cold in this room. The bed was less of a bed and more of a mattress. Anything to make it more comfortable was welcome. That is if was delivered by anyone but Thomas.

"I just got back from June's room." My entire body stiffened. I needed to know how she was but I refused to beg answers from him. "She was asleep but the guards outside her door said she'd been wailing for hours." I turn my face towards him. Across the room, hardly even away from the doorway Thomas is shifting foot to foot. He was worried, if for himself or for June I couldn't tell. "Have you seen her yet?"

This question shook me. One would think that Thomas, being the person who retrieved June and I, would have come kind of authority here. Instead he has no idea that I saw June start to unravel just before my operation. How much information do they keep from him? Is he even considered important, now that his job is done?

"No, is she ok. She must be cured by now." Of course I'd lie. Why would I tell someone like him the truth? Thomas' eyes glance to me and then to the door. Don't like being the one questioned do you? Is it bad that I took joy from that look?

"She's alright. Like I said before they couldn't give her anything that would cure her entirely, so she's still a bit out of it." I wanted to curse at him. She was much worse than a little bit out of it. I've seen that glazed look before. She could hardly understand what was going on. Of course I kept my mouth shut.

"That's good. She isn't in pain is she? You said she was crying."

"No, I think it was just because of where she is. Being captured is never a good thing for the mind. No one has briefed her either." He didn't have to say it. The fear that gripped me was enough. No one had told her if I was alright. No one had explained anything to her. Not that she'd really understand but it didn't matter now did it? The sudden need to see her washed over me. It gripped me like a vice and I suddenly wondered how I'd stuck it out this long.

"How long was I out?"

"A few days, it was a very complex surgery. I'm surprised that you woke up as fast as you did."

"Did they get all of it?"

"I think so. The higher ups were very happy with the results. You're scheduled to be briefed on it soon."

"So everything important is done. My job is done. I did as I was told. Let me see June." I winced at the desperate tone in my voice. I needed to at least pretend I was in control. The aggravated sigh from across the room was as good as an answer.

"Major Winston ordered me to let you and June converse under severe supervision as soon as you woke." The smile I felt spread was too good to be true. How stupid could these people be? Of course we couldn't make any solid escape plan being watched all the time, but being near was enough to stabilize at least one of us. Just one of us with a clear head was enough in my opinion.

June was brought in and I nearly tackled her I was so relived. She looked well enough, better than she had in the operating room. Her hair was greasy and strands were falling out of her usually perfect pony tail. Her eyes were clearer than before so I was sure she knew at least where she was. Though the darkened color in those orbs of hers were a little disconcerting, as of the floor was tilted just an inch to the left.

A guard is holding her up by her forearm as she wobbles towards me. I long to rush up and help her but I've been forced to rest and so am not allowed to move from this damn bed.

She numbly situates herself next to me and looks at the guard with a question in her face.

"He has to stay to make sure we aren't planning anything." My hand finds hers. My skin sparks with the touch but the heat coming off of her worries me.

"Right of course."

"How are you? Are you feeling any better?" The look she gives me is like one of a child after being asked how far the sun is from Mars.

"Yes they gave me something…"

"An Injection Miss Iparis." The guard interjected. He looked to her kindly as though helping an old woman who couldn't remember where she'd put her keys. It's good that someone like this is guarding her. At least I won't have to worry that they're hurting her.

"Right an injection, here." She pointed to her arm as though I wouldn't believe her, a proud kid showing a parent just how brave they were. "Metais isn't that great? Now that I have the new vaccination we can go out again." Her eyes were shining and a smile glowed on her face, free from the pain I knew she could not remember having. "Metais you're hurting me." I quickly let go of her hand and watched the red marks fade to white on her skin. "Metais, why are you crying? Stop you should be happy. We could go the movies or out to eat. Thomas would like that don't you think?" She's pulled herself closer, knees digging into my side. "Metais it's ok. The shot didn't hurt at all."

A warm hand holds my face, too warm. Her eyes are glazing over now, the color darkening. Unknowingly she's already in my arms, my face digging into her neck, breathing in the scent that lingered there despite the stench of sickness. Weak arms circled my middle. A head rested on my shoulder as sleep quickly took her next words away.

For once I was grateful to an armed guard. He let her stay like that, asleep and unaware until Thomas was sent to take her from me.

**Yay! Wasn't that nice and sad for all of you :D but really, I am sorry for the sadness -_- Great things are to come, most have to do with the results of Day's operation. Thanks for reading and as usual please review, I love reviews!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm sorry, really I am. A lot has been going on this week, very busy. With mother's day and my mother's birthday I'm sorry to say that I was distracted by cake. It's sad but true. That and I'm leaving school a week early to go to a writer's conference. Because of this I will not be posting a chapter on the 9****th**** or the 16****th****. :P I'll try my best to give you guys as many chapters as possible before then but you know…**

**Ok everyone I'm giving fair warning to this chapter. It's nothing bad just a little on the weird side regarding June. It will change to Day later on so you guys can end with a note of sanity. :D**

**JUNE: Chapter 9**

My thoughts ran around like dizzy children, bumping into each other and filling my head with screeches. Every image was hazy and every word was muddled. Sight had changed from sharp clarity to smudged oil. Faces that I knew could not exist in this place found their way before me, as though they were trying to prove their own existence.

There must have been pain at some point. Right, there must have been because there was red everywhere. The red was blood, that metal smell flooded me to the point of nausea. Or maybe I was nauseous because of the food? It had been filled with good smelling bread at some point but when I blinked the plate was filled with twisted centipedes crawling over pearl white maggots. The very thought of the meal still made my stomach turn. Since then I've refused to even look at my rations despite the gentle prodding from my guard.

The guard stood in the corner of the white walled room, still and straight as though he were a pillar holding up the ceiling. Though a pillar wouldn't talk half as much. He was always trying to get a reaction out of me. At first he started with words of silver. Trying to coax me out of whatever foggy shield I've created for myself. I could not surrender to this person whose face I could hardly see. Whenever my eyes sought him in the corners of sight red always blurred his person. It was an omen that I felt to my bones. I usually am never a person to listen to such things but then again I never used to listen to the voices that whisper to me in sleep

I'm supposed to be seen today. The woman with the bee hive for a head, nothing but buzzing words that slip through ears, I dislike her. She's been here a few times before. Always with lips aflame they burn my skin if I stray too close. The only way I can even tolerate her is if I sit in the far corner of the room, huddled with my head down. She doesn't seem bothered by this. Almost arrogant in her stance, she speaks and moves with an air I have seen only in those of the Republic's generals. Yet judging by shoes and the state of that hair, she was everything but put composed. If I could describe her in short: she was controlled chaos. We all know just how dangerous such a person could be.

"It has come to our attention that you have stopped eating Miss Iparis. As a prisoner of war we are required to give you rations. Usually if you people starve yourselves it is of no important to us." She sighed and a golden perfume flew from her mouth and I coughed despite my distance. "But you and Day are important to the war effort. Your deaths are things that we cannot be the cause of, even if it was in all honesty your own faults. You will eat or have the food forced down your throat." Her headache sweetened smile did little to hide the words. That is if I even heard them right. "It has also been discovered that your current guard may be too lenient when it comes to punishment. Your screeching is starting to upset the others. If the noise is not handled than _you_ will be."

My guard who had done little more than that of an armchair moved at these words. It was a small difference, a shift of weight, but one all the same. He was uneasy. "Major Winston I will be sure to keep her quiet. I am afraid that a new guard will only put her more on edge." I opened my mouth to yell at him. It was a horribly disrespectful way he was speaking. She was a higher rank than him if I was counting the ropes correctly. Yet Major Winston gave only a searing glare. "You will stay to guard Miss Iparis until further notice." With that she turned on her heel and left.

This time and like every other time before, I stared at the door as it closed. There was an electronic lock that needed a number code to open and close. There was a cover that blocked me from seeing the pad that Mayor Winston typed the password on. But if I calmed my breathing and stayed very still I could hear the small beeps coming from the buttons. High than low than low again, I could only get a new note every time she came. My muddled mind was too strangled to remember more than one new number with every visit.

Despite everything that I'm sure I've forgotten I had yet to forget my goal. I needed to escape, escape and find Day. That was all that mattered. He was my shining light in this cloud of confusion.

**DAY: **

I was going to be briefed. Despite the obvious need for this I still dreaded it. I didn't really like the military all that much. Their need for everyone needing to know every little detail no matter how unimportant was not one of my favorite traits. If anything the only thing I liked about the military was June. She wasn't even here to laugh at my complaints.

Currently I am being dragged down a hallway by two very tall, intimidating men. I have no idea why these two are even needed. To they really think I'd make a break for it and leave June behind. Wasn't that the entire reason they'd brought her here too? Maybe June's being here had been the price Thomas had set for my capture?

That some woman from before, the one with dark brown hair and steely eyes, sat in the debriefing room. She apparently was the one who overlooked June and I's…stay here. The black uniform she wore was crisp and pressed but the hair that women here tend to wear in a tight bun, hung loose and lank as though it hadn't seen a brush in years. The military commissioned boots were scuffed and the laces were frayed at the ends. Either she was incredibly sloppy or lacked sleep. My money (If I had any) was on both.

"Have a seat Day. I have something of great importance to tell you." It's very hard to resist rolling your eyes when adults are so incredibly obvious. I was here to be spoken to. I think everyone in this damn facility knew that. "Due to the success of your recant surgery we are going to allow you to stay with June if you wish. Her mental and physical wellbeing is depleting rapidly. We believe that your being near will improve her health."

"That and curing her of the plague might help." Nothing in her posture changed. There was no tightening of the shoulders or intake of breath. The only way I knew I had affected her in any way was the slight narrowing of the eyes. They were a cold color that made me all too conscious of my lack of hair.

"It has already been explained why June cannot yet be cured. You should count yourself lucky that we are even allowing you to be near her. The main reason behind this is because she's making so much horrid noise." I smiled and nodded as though I was happy with the reasoning. The trembling fear in the pit of my stomach had to be shut down cold and fast. There were a hundred reasons June could be causing such a racket.

Maybe she was calling for help? Perhaps it was due to the hallucinations I knew she was having? The last choice was blood chilling. They were hurting her. It didn't matter how but it was happening. Was this a way to keep me in line? Did they think that if I saw what they did to June I'd sit idle like some kicked dog?

My fists tightened under the table, clinking the metal cuffs binding them. If they hurt one hair on her head they would regret putting me in that room. It was wrong to even imagine her so weak. She was strong through and through. Why else would I be so in love with her?

"Oh, I almost forgot, there is a message from home for you." The screen behind her lit up with life. It wasn't a letter but a video message. After the Republic's anthem and insignia Anden's face filled the screen. Of everyone that I wanted to see he was the last one…maybe ahead of Thomas but that was still pretty low on the list.

Anden's face was a mess. Dark heavy bags hung under his bloodshot eyes. The once healthy looking skin was pale and gaining a yellowish tinged. Had he lost weight? His clothes seemed to sway on his shoulders.

"Day and Miss Iparis I am sending this in hopes that it will reach you both or" his voice caught for a moment, "at least one of you. Upon your kidnaping we are raging full war against the Colonies I promise that we will reach you both and free you. I assure you that all members of your families are in good hands." His eyes softened at his next words, "Eden and Ollie are both safe and eagerly awaiting your return." Anden straightened his shoulders and a look overcame him. It was the look that I had often seen in his father and I felt goose bumps crawl up my neck. "To the Colonies this is for you. All and I mean all forces will be used against you. We are a new people and we are not yet ready to give this up after such a short time."

With those closing words the screen flickered out and my gaze returned to the woman before me.

"As you can see, we are not yet ready to give you both up. You are very important to the outcome of this massacre."

"I'm sure we are. But I think you're mistaken when it comes to just who it is that's going to win. You've given the Republic the one weapon they'd been lacking, complete desperation."

**Woot! All done, hope you guys liked it. Once again, I'm sorry for the wait. Please leave a review, I love love love reviews! They make me happy :D **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone, look I got it to you on time, thanks to the three day weekend. Woot! We have come to chapter 10! Thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far, you guys are great! Like I've said before the next few chapters will be delayed a few weeks, sorry. **

**Warning for this chapter, June is weird. She's kind of freaking me out actually. **

**JUNE: Chapter 10**

Everything aches. The lights are too bright. I don't even have enough energy to keep myself up anymore so here I lie, sprawled on the ground, trying not to move. If I stayed still enough I could pretend that the pain wasn't there. I could make myself believe that the screams weren't even there. Something stuck to my face, always getting in the way. They're snakes I'm sure of it. They curl from my head and despite all of my effort; I cannot strangle them till death. The only ever nip and bite at me, even in sleep. Thin as threads yet their teeth are sharp. How I wish to keep them at bay.

The usually silent man, who stood in the corner of this white cage, told me that some boy was going to be coming by to see me twice a day from now on. If the boy was anything like this guy he was sure to be just as still and red.

There had been a lot of red as of late. People that blended into the walls, only floating heads, hands, and feet, came and brought red with them. They took red from me. I didn't like that. It was only a pinch of pain that they made but it was too real against my skin. The usual pain I felt day after day was fuzzy compared to this sharpness. I'd lash out, my hands becoming claws and they let the red seep onto the colorless ground. The noise was loud and the pinch would turn to a throbbing ach, leaving me to lie in that red until it faded. That bee woman, who I had started to call the queen, for that's what the bees liked to call her, brought much red with her. Her hair was red but I could not tell if it was like that by right or by sorrow. How horrid would it be to cause all that red just for the look of it?

The queen had a stinger ready to strike. Her words would drip from her lips in a black, inky trail. She must be asking something but I couldn't open my mouth to reply. When I didn't respond the stinger came down, clutched in her hand like a knife. The venom would run through me. It glowed like fire in my veins and it burned just as hot. I felt the need to back away, as though I had strayed too close to the flames, yet there was nowhere to run. My hands found my skin, hopping to claw the poison away but only red came of it.

The queen liked to laugh at that. I couldn't hear it but I could tell because the bees would get very excited and buzz, buzz, buzz, right in my ear. What could she want that would call for this?

None of this distracted me for long though. That solid thought, that single goal, was a rock in this ocean of mayhem. With each and every visit I would sneak another sound into my slipping memory. I had forgotten all else but this. The music to my escape was almost complete and soon I'd be free. But free I would be outside this cage I would need something to guide me. My light must also be saved, whatever that meant. I've quickly learned that the few things I do remember tend to make little sense. What good would a light do when this room was already so bright? Perhaps it was less literal? Meaning that this light could be something else, or someone else.

DAY:

June, I was being taken to see June. I wanted to run. I wanted to screech. I hadn't realized just how hard it was to be away from her. Even in those weeks that I had avoided her I had never felt like this. Never have I felt such a cloud of hopelessness and fear. As long as I could see June, happy and at least a little healthy, I would be able to sleep easier. I tried to memorize the way from my room to hers but I quickly got lost in my mental map and gave up.

The door was like all the others and was opened with a simple code. I would have rather met June again without the two armed guards but beggars can't be choosers, but then again, me being a beggar was debatable.

I had expected June to be well. I had thought she would be a little disheveled, hair out of its usual ponytail by now. I had told myself not to expect a conversation since I had been told she often slept the days away. I had not even imagined that this was what I would find. I never even thought June could get this bad. Always so strong it was simply impossible to understand that there was such a thing as a weak June.

Weak though was the wrong word I decided. June was not weak, she was defeated.

Curled in on herself, arms bared to cover her face, she looked like a lost child. Blood stained the skin and half healed claw marks scared the flesh in deep caverns. Judging by the way they were deeper at the ends I could tell they were self-inflicted. Her hair was matted and tangled around her and resembled more of a strange nest than a hairdo. Her skin was a sickly kind of pale and though I couldn't see her eyes I'm sure they were a blood filled black.

Her guard only stared as mine left to the room. Did they really think that one person was enough to hold back the burning rage I could feel building in my gut? With balled fists and hoarse voice I made my way to June.

"How in the world did this happen." I didn't look but he knew I was speaking to him. The rage was hardly contained in my words but I had to keep calm. Judging by how quickly she shied away, June still didn't know who I was.

"It wasn't me who did this but I-" I turned away, only half listening to the useless guard. I shouldn't have even asked. Me getting so angry wasn't going to help any.

"June, can you hear me?" She only hugged her knees tighter. "June it's me Day. They've let me come to see you." Still no reply, was she scared because of the hallucinations or because of something that'd been done to her? The thought made my skin prickle. I had to do something, anything to show her that no harm would come by my hands. I could almost feel the unease in her mind. All those thoughts were tumbling around each other. I kneeled before her.

I brushed some hair from her face and her arms lowered a bit. One dark eye peered out with curious trust. I'd hardly ever seen June with her hair down. It obviously didn't always look like this, but I could see how it could prove troublesome when in a place like this. I knew just how annoying long hair can be when unkempt. One by one my fingers untangled the knots and smoothed the strands back. I tugged at a bit of my sleeve and ripped a thin strip of cloth. I'd never had to pull back another's hair but I think I managed it alright.

June looked up and gave a small sigh of relief, as though I'd just removed a nail from her foot. She reached out and touched my head. With a crease in her brow and a question in her eyes she asked, "Where is it?" At first I had no idea what he meant.

"Oh, my hair, it had to be cut for the surgery." She didn't seem to understand but continued all the same.

"It was the queen and the white men. She stung and they stole." My eyes found the still bleeding arms. They would get infecting if nothing was done. I sighed. My thoughts had brought me back to this. I stood from my crouch.

"She needs medical attention. I'm sure Major Winston would disapprove if June…worsened." The guard, who I had thought to be so good for June, hardly moved. His words though, were slow and carefully chosen.

"I am not allowed to intervene, only to observe." I scoffed. "If I were to act in any way to help Ms. Iparis I would be removed and replaced." He glanced at the door as though expecting someone to come barging through it. "I trust you know that my replacement would not be nearly as inactive as I am."

Right, June would most likely be given a guard prone for interrogating. Though I don't think they'd be able to get anything out of her when she's like this.

The door flew open and Major Winston walked through in her loud shoes. June scurried to a nearby corner, eyes cast down.

"Day, was it nice to see your lady love after all this time? I'm sure you'll see that she's in a dreadful condition."

"Yes I can see that quite clearly major." My fists clenched. This was the perfect moment. If I were to attack her now I could easily slip out the still open door or even force the code out of her if it somehow locked. But June was still sick and it would be much harder to escape with dead weight. I shook that thought away. Maybe I could come back for her? If I were to get out of here I could go get Anden, tell him where June was. Would June even be alive if I ran? Would they kill her as I was walking out the door? Just how badly did they need us to make sure the Republic came? As far as I could tell they were coming guns blazing already. Was there any need to keep us here as bait?

If we were bait, cheese for the mouse, when was the mouse trap going to spring?

"When are you going to cure June?"

"You must realize Day that you are very important to our victory. We are also very well aware of the skills you possess. June is a kind of insurance-"

"Yes I've heard that all before but we both know that you were never going to cure June." Major Winston gave a coy smile.

"You are correct Day; the reason for June's continued sickness has little to do with our own safety." Her steps were loud in the suddenly shockingly empty room. I stayed still. She was a hunter and I the dear. "You must realize Daniel that there was never a cure to begin with. That is until we cracked open that head of yours."

No, there was a cure. She was lying. There had to be. June could not die from this. My eyes found hers. She would not end up like the others. Her name was not going to be one on the list of the dead.

"It seems that the experimentation done on you long ago found something amazing, though no one knew until a few days ago. You're immune Day. Those headaches were caused by the constant fighting your body has to do to keep the plague at bay. That tumor wasn't a curse but a blessing. It was saving your life, killing the plague that had been ejected into your eye." She turned to June hauled her up. June looked more like a doll, hanging by one bloody arm, eyes dulled. "This is the result of your company Day, not ours. Didn't you find it strange that so many people fell victim to the plague yet you were as healthy as ever? Just because you're immune doesn't make everyone else just as impervious."

My knees had found the floor though I don't remember falling. June's dark eyes filled my vision. I don't understand. None of this could be true. Blood was pounding my ears and I covered them to still the noise. This was a nightmare. How could something like this even happen? June could not die. I could feel a headache coming on and I bit my lip to hide the scream.

"You were the one to infect Ms. Iparis." I let out a noise I didn't even think I was capable of, one of an animal in pain.

"It turns out that there was another girl, though she somehow slipped away. She had come to us for help, claiming to have been vaccinated, yet somehow became infected. When we realized just who she was, we were eager to ask you, Day, for information on the matter. How is it that a girl who had so loyally been your friend also fell victim to the very thing you had tried so hard to prevent? You must just feel awful. We had told her that we would cure her if she brought you to us, but it seems that she died before she could get here." With a flick of the wrist major Winston untied the bit of cloth holding back June's hair.

"It seems that the girl you know as Tess is no longer with us."

**Yeah…sorry guys. So there you go, an extra-long chapter for an extra-long weekend. I know it's a little confusing but I'll be sure to clear things up soon. Please leave a review! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ok, so I realize that this is a tad bit late. I am very sorry, really. I've had horrible jet lag from my trip (waking up at 4 in the afternoon :P ) But I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed so far! You guys make my day :D …wow…pun not intended really -_-**

**DAY Chapter 11:**

No. It wasn't real, none of this was true. June couldn't be like this because of me. Over and over my head replays every kiss, and every desperate touch. I couldn't be the reason she-

Those dark empty eyes invade my thoughts and I shut my eyes to banish them. Tess is gone and June may be gone soon too and it was my fault, all of it was my stupid fault.

I need to be near her. I need to hold her, convince myself that she's still here. But I can't make things worse. If I was in that room any more I would just bring her death closer.

Then again me being away may spell the same result only with a different reason. Reason though, seems to have left the building. What exactly was the reason for this?

Why take us? Why take both of us? They say that we're some type of bait for the Republic, yet the Republic was already at war. What could have been the reason behind this entire charade? Winston said that the war was dragging on too long, that it needed to be wrapped up soon. Why all the rush though? Did this mean that the colonies were afraid of losing? Were they running out of resources? That may be possible but still, this did not explain the reason for both of us. Why not only me, or just June? It couldn't be something like 'the Republic would come faster for both of us than they would for just one'. That would have been a waste of time. They used drugs on June and me…and Tess. Those were valuable resources, something that I'd think the colonies would be conscious of. They are at war, why waste? So why the need, what was it that we both possessed separately?

June was close to Anden…unfortunately. This alone would have been plenty to spur the war into a frenzy. Perhaps that was the reason June had been brought, not to mention the strings Thomas pulled in hopes of saving her. I held obvious hold over the public. My capture must have also spurred the war to a closer end. But there was something else. There was a need for the both of us. We were secret ingredients that when put together made an entirely different flavor.

I reached to the wall, ready to pound my head into it and stopped short. I'd just had brain surgery, banging my head against a hard object was not the best idea.

I bolted upright. The tumor, it had been top secret information back at the Republic. Could the colonies have gotten into the Republic's records? No, but they must have gotten the information about it somehow. They had captured me. Was it possible that they had simply guessed? Could they have already known what it was that I held in my head other than thoughts? I stood and paced my ten by ten cell. Back and forth back and forth, I was a pendulum on a clock ever moving, my steps keeping time in an unknown measurement.

Lets say that they took me purely for the reason of finding a cure. They would have had had their doubts of course, but Tess' death helped to prove their theory. She had died after contact with me…though that was hardly anything to go on. So they opened me up, looked inside my head and found exactly what they had expected. I was a solution.

Now that did little to explain the lack of knowledge that the Republic held. They had been the first to recognize the reason behind my headaches and yet they still hadn't figured it out.

Why was it that even with all the cards on the table the colonies were able to peer over the Republic's shoulder and cheat anyway? What did the colonies know about this that the Republic didn't? I guess it doesn't really matter, because they guessed correctly and their risk was about to pay off in a big way. A cure to the plague was a very good bartering chip, or at least, that's what I'd do with it. If the Republic was really that big of a threat I mean.

This rambling didn't change anything though. June was still dying and I might as well be back at the Republic for all the help I was doing. Being so far away might actually help her.

I slumped to the floor and held my head in my hands. This was all my fault. Everything, Tess was dead…the girl I had always taken care of as if she were blood, a sister, and I had killed her. I might as well have let her starve instead of taking her under my wing. It would have been a kinder way for her to go. Instead she suffered by the hands of the boy she claimed to love.

I didn't realize I was wringing my hands until I saw the blood under my fingernails. It didn't matter, none of it mattered. The pain in my hand was nothing compared to the pounding in my head, the killer I had never known about, the one that lived in me.

Now I was going to be the murderer of yet another life, the very life that I had done so much to protect. June, if she died from this I would too. There was no arguing about it.

**JUNE:**

The boy had left. He left me alone in this room, and the snakes had come back. They were around my throat and slithering down, into my mouth. I couldn't breathe and I tried and I tried to scream but no sound could come out. Red was everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

My mouth was stone and I couldn't keep it open anymore. Lungs asked for air but I couldn't give it, I had no money to buy such a thing. Yet they begged and they begged. I was a horrible mother if I couldn't even feed my children.

Bees erupted from the door and I flew back with the fear. Horror chained me to the ground, weights that gave me iron skin. The bees buzzed in my ears and I tried to shut my eyes from the sound but they kept on buzzing, buzzing, buzzing. I couldn't hear anything else, my thoughts were too quiet.

But my thoughts were there all the same, flies on walls, they only saw. Yet they found their way into one of the snakes and told the snake what to whisper to me.

Light, find the light and you will be free. Tell the light what we tell you. The light will understand.

The snake whispered in my ear its strange words, words of information, too long for me to spell at the moment. Yet I imbedded them to my mind all the same. They were important, they were a key to a door that I had yet to find.

**DAY:**

Thomas came to talk to me today. I've never seen a person so disheveled. That may be too weak of a word but it's all I have. A stronger word would have meant that he lacked any control at all. If anything, Thomas was a person to keep at least an echo of arrangement.

He had claimed once again that he had never meant for this to happen…again. I'm sure he'd never meant for June to be like this, I hadn't meant for June to be like this, and still here she was. I was at much fault as Thomas was. I told him so. I explained what had happened, how I'd been slowly infecting June simply by being near her. He punched me in the gut until I emptied it. I deserved that, I deserved a lot worse.

Now Thomas is gone and I'm staring at a wall, hoping that an answer has been etched into its flawless white paint. Why, why, why, that's all I could think about. Why the both of us? What was it that we had together that we lacked when apart?

**JUNE:**

Words fell from the snakes fangs like its deadly venom. They stained my clothes and stopped my breath. Yes, it all made sense. Why else would they want me here? Why bring a girl when the boy would have been enough? Already I could hear the bees coming, humming their anthem of the woman. Long live the queen.

**DAY:**

Maybe if I escaped? That might be my only option. Just the thought of leaving June here made my stomach clench. But me sitting here doing nothing wasn't going to help anyone. I could get out, it wouldn't be that hard. I'd find Anden, tell him where she is. At this point she would die in just a few days. The plague was working too fast. They weren't going to cure her, or at least not in time. They still had to avoid war crimes with the Republic. They would lie; claim that the cure hadn't been created until after she had died.

The thought sent a wave of grief through me. Tess, she was gone, gone, gone. How could I let this happen? How could I allow her to leave me? She'd been right there, right in front of me that night. How had I not noticed the signs? She had been begging for help and I hadn't heard. What kind of person am I? To let someone as pure as her be killed by my own hands?

Breathe in, breathe out, this was all the time I allowed to pity myself, to mourn her death. That was all that passed through my lips beside the sobs, those shaky things that left me empty. There were other's that needed me right now. There were others that still lived, people that I still might be able to save.

I would escape, even if that meant leaving June behind. It was a horrible idea but it was the best that I had at the moment.

For the first time in my time here I grinned, there was a knock at the door. I'd be able to put this plan into action sooner than expected.

It was Thomas, of course. It was always Thomas wasn't it? I was cursed.

"You're going to want to see this." His face was pulled in a tight kind of way, as though he was trying to keep back an incredibly strong emotion. Otherwise he was perfectly at ease. He didn't shift his weight or clench his fists. That uniform of his had long ago been traded out for the ones issued here, and it was clean and well creased. Everything was in place except for that strange tautness around his eyes, a strain.

I think it's because of this that I didn't argue. I didn't even give a smart remark. It was in that moment that I put the hesitant escape plan on hold.

Thomas led me to a room, not like there were many other places I could go. This one looked a lot like the briefing room from before. There was the same boring table and the screen behind it. The image being projected was not one from Anden, but of this room. If I squinted I could see the small glint of a camera lens in a shadowy corner.

None of this seemed important after I saw just who was sitting at the table. It was Winston, and next to her, next to her was June in chains.

To give June credit she didn't seemed fazed by it at all. If anything she seemed very focused, concentrating desperately. Her eyes were closed tight; her fists were bawled so that the knuckles shone white in the dim light. Winston didn't seemed bother by this at all. Her eyes were trained on me and me alone, how touching.

"Take a seat Day. We have a message for the Republic."

**Woot! :D Aren't you guys happy? I posted a chapter. Really, I understand the crazy confusion going on. Just imagine how confused Day is. Anyway, next chapter lots of this stuff will be cleared up so don't worry.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok I realize that this is really late…but I was busy…doing nothing, yeah. So here you guys go**

**DISCLAIMER: I keep forgetting these -_- but yeah, I own nothing and stuff**

**JUNE: Chapter 12**

There he was, the boy. The snakes writhed around me, desperate to tell him the secret I carried in my thoughts. Yet those snakes could not use my mouth like I could. I would have to be the one to tell him. To tell him the reason I'd been brought.

Chains bit into my skin, growling at my intentions. I growled back and shook their shackles. It was hard enough keeping the message in my head. It kept trying to fly away, its wings aching for a flight that would spell my doom. Bees buzzed around me, trying to distract me from the careful secret. My eyes closed to the noise.

**DAY:**

Without another word Major Winston clicked something on the screen. We were in a chat room, another screen appeared. This one held the familiar face of Anden. Though his ragged appearance wasn't what surprised me, it was the fact that he seemed to be in some kind of dark tent. The noise behind him seemed to shake the thin walls and it pulled his face into a grimace. But his eyes quickly found Junes' it seemed, since he scrambled for a light, flipping some off screen switch.

"June don't worry I'm-"

"Ms. Imparis is not in the position to speak with you at the moment. We on the other hand have spoken before."

"Yes Major Winston, I remember you. You contacted me saying you had something important to say." Anden would lose very fast at poker. His eyes kept drifting over to June, scanning her strangely dark eyes.

"Ms. Imparis was infected with the plague before coming here-" Anden's fury could be felt across the screens. His eyes darkened and his jaw tightened.

"How could this have happened? June-… Ms. Imparis has been vaccinated, unless of course someone introduced a new strand of the plague to her." He eyed Winston accusingly. Winston's eyes lit up at this.

"I can promise that we have done no such thing. Not that it matters. Since the Colonies have achieved in what the Republic has failed at. We have found a cure to the plague."

The silence in the room lay like a fog. To say that Anden was surprised would have been an understatement. Though to his credit, his mouth wasn't hanging open…that far. "We are willing to graciously share this cure with the Republic if they surrender."

"No, prove it first. Prove that it works." His eyes were hard and cold, cautious to the end.

"Of course, we have the perfect test subject right here." Her hand clamped down onto June's. Anden stiffened if just the slightest. Hadn't anyone taught this guy how to hide his emotions?

"If June is not cured the deal is off. There will be no surrender." Was he really considering this? The Republic had already lost so much. If we won the war we could just take the cure. But if we didn't…we would become slaves to the Colonies and die from sickness. That and June wouldn't be cured. I glanced at her small form. She looked like a skeleton, hair hanging off her head. I couldn't let her die. I had to fix this.

"Give us a week, she'll be cured by then. After that the cure will be delivered and so will the prisoners."

"Let me see Day first." This seemed to throw Winston since her smile was quick to disappear. Her eyes shifted to mine. I stepped forward.

**JUNE:**

The boy was talking. His voice was too loud too loud. I can't hear the snakes. Everything is dripping and falling, melting by the Queen's glare. Bees slip through my eyes, blocking my sight. Now I was being hauled away. The room went dark as the boy tried to speak to me. His words were frantic but light in color. He spoke poetry and music and they filled me up like I'd swallowed a sun. If I opened my mouth I'm sure I'd blind the world with the light of my words.

Time slipped by me, a raindrop on a windowpane. People came and went in my room of white. I laughed and laughed at them. They thought they could kill this, this madness that pricked and sewed itself under my skin? I would undo all the queen's careful work, stich by stich.

Red filled my vision as something new, something real, pricked my arm. I was being flooded with something dizzying. Yes this was what would fix me. As the queen left I could only laugh.

The buzzing of her bees grew fainter and fainter. I waited until I couldn't hear them at all before I moved. The statue of the man in my white, white cell didn't even bat an eye as I punched in the code to the door. My fingers were weak and feeble. They didn't do what I told them to, but the sound was there all the same and the door burst open. I was free but only just. The snakes slithered around me, leading me. They knew the plan much better than I did. The counted steps aloud. Three hundred and six to the right, six hundred and twenty five to the left, the third door, the one that gave a soft creak, this was my map.

The room was filled with angry wolves. They bit and snarled at the air as though that was the enemy. Yet they never moved. Their metal bodies stuck in place, those trigger teeth ready to gnash. My hands found the one that glowed, the one that purred with a familiar light. Another boy's face came to mind, one that I knew long ago. He had held this wolf at bay.

I held out my hand, an offering. Without hesitation the wolf bit and drew blood with needle teeth. Something new filled me up, something that made the snakes more real. It made my head heavy as though rock weighed down the bone. I let the wolf back into its cage, its danger spent.

My feet found their way back to the white room, the map a vivid green in my eyes.

**DAY:**

I hadn't been able to do anything. I couldn't talk to Anden like I'd wanted with Winston in the room. Then again did I even want Anden to go through with the war? If we lost…or even if the war took longer than another week, June would die.

No, it didn't matter what happened, June had to live. I had done this. This was my fault. I had to save her. I'd thought my way out of every situation so far. So why couldn't I think of a way out of this? Why couldn't I do some daring rescue? Why was I so crippled with idea that she might not make it through the night?

**Sappy end, I know right :P and it was short…and late. Anyway, you know what would make me update faster? REVEIWS! I love reviews, they're great :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok once again, very late, but it's here! :D This was really hard to write, so sorry if it feels kind of off. The story is coming to an end soon…I think. I might write another fic after this one so don't worry, you guys can't get rid of me so fast. ;)**

**Disclaimer-I'm really bad at remembering to do this, but yeah, I own nothing and stuff.**

**DAY: Chapter 13**

"I don't know how she did it but she did." Thomas had burst into my cell full of fury. His steps were fast and his breath faster, as though he'd been running. One button was missed on his coat, giving him a lopsided collar that annoyed me to no end. Or perhaps it was the fact that he'd been saying that same sentence since he got here ten minutes ago.

"Would you like to elaborate?" He looked up at me, paused in his traced steps and seemed to see me for the first time.

"I shouldn't tell you. It could hurt her if you-"He shook his head as though making a decision but I'd already made mine.

"If this has anything to do with June it involves me." The fear in my gut turned to anger in my glare. "I have to keep her safe when she can't do it herself. So tell me what happened already." My jaw ached from gritting my teeth so hard but I didn't care.

Thomas took a deep breath, seeming to collect himself. "I was in the armory today. My gun…from before, the one that was created to infect the victim with plague, I found it empty. It had been used."

"So you think I stole it or something? I can't even escape from this room let alone break into an armory." I spit the words as though they burned my lips. How stupid did he think I was? Thomas for the first time since I've known him looked sheepish. Before he spoke he double checked that the small black device he used to jam the recorders was on.

"The armory here isn't locked at all. In case of a serious emergency they deem it more important that we are all armed than if our prisoners happen to escape and even then, _find _the armory." I scoffed at the idea. To keep weapons out in the open like that was stupid, though it also meant that the security in this cell was considerable.

"So what does it matter if this gun of yours was empty? Someone used it?" Thomas' eyes feel out of focus at this, his mind elsewhere despite his now stilled feet.

"Yes, someone must have used it. Anyone could have, the door being open as it was. But I think that…" He cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. "June isn't getting any better. It's been five days, our time is almost up." My breath caught. My knuckles now white from the force of my fists. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't-

"Major Winston was positive that this cure would be effective almost immediately. But every time a dose is given nothing happens." A picture was forming in my mind. Things were coming together. I'm sure I was coming to the same conclusion that Thomas had so worryingly reached. I dare not interrupt though. "I think she may be sabotaging the treatment by exposing herself to more of the plague."

**JUNE:**

I could feel it. The snakes could feel it too. The boy that shone so brightly in my mind was close. He was coming. Those footsteps too loud they crashed through the floor but they flickered like flames past these walls.

I must warn him, I must tell him. He needed to know what would happen if only to spare him that blood red pain that he was sure to endure. The snakes whispered the words I would need to repeat, over and over, making sure I remembered. But also to make sure that I kept my courage. Light was beautiful but to throw one's self into a pit of flame needed courage. Judging by how much my hands were shaking, courage was something I lacked. No, no, no, no I needed to do this. If doing this made me brave then I would come out of this braver than before.

The statue of a man opened my door and let in the light. I held up my hands to shield my eyes but it did little to help. The boy called out to me. His hands all feathers and birds, flittering about my arms and shoulders until they made their nest at my ears. His hands cradling my face as though I were a child and he was a parent lulling me to sleep. But I could not sleep, I needed to tell him. I needed to let these words slip from between my lips and sew them into his skin so he never forgets.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." I reached out. In my mind there was a shifting image, one of a boy with long golden hair. This must be him. He brought that same hummingbird feeling in my chest. Yet my fingers met smooth skin, marked with only the memory of hair. This for some reason tore at me.

The boy's hands were quick to wipe away wetness from my cheeks. But I had to give him the entire message. "Fight alongside Anden, it's the only way to save the Republic." I took a deep breath. My mind was slipping away from me. There was something else, something of grave importance. "Day, no matter what, keep your promise." My hands fished in my pockets. None of my body seemed to follow my orders but it wasn't too hard to find it. The statue that kept guard had given it to me. It seemed to sing now, shimmer and glow in my hand as I held it out to the boy I had called Day.

**DAY:**

The paper clip ring, she still had it. I almost broke then. After everything, everything I'd said and done she'd kept it. I didn't have the faintest idea how she'd gotten it past security but I didn't care. She was crying and I couldn't tell if it was from pain or the words she spoke. How could I even think for one moment that I could live without her, her wit and her quick thinking? Somehow, even now with her thoughts so muddled and twisted she remembered me. She made the effort to try to tell me what I already knew.

She was stronger than me, so much stronger. I stroked her hair and almost laughed at how she leaned into my palm. All along, ever since she'd realized there would be a cure, she'd known how this would end. It didn't matter how close I was because she wasn't going to get better, not ever.

She loved the Republic more than that. She loved me more than her own sanity. She was giving it all up.

"June, you don't have to do this. I'll get us out of here. Just give me a little more time." I hated how hoarse my voice was. Already my throat was starting to hurt from keeping emotion in. She gave a weak smile and shook her head, her hands now holding mine.

"The snakes said that this was the only way." Her dark eyes glazed at this and I wanted to scream. She was going to leave soon, drift away into that mind of hers that had helped her so often escape. Now it was nothing but a cage. I couldn't free her from something like this no matter how smart I thought I was.

"So you're just going to leave me…I can't keep my promise if you-"I choked on my own words and tried to swallow them down.

"Just help Anden. He'll come for you when they realize what's happened. The Republic is strong enough to win. Just don't die. They need the cure."

"Then get better June, wait for Anden with me. You don't have to keep doing this to yourself." My thumb grazed the spot where she'd injected herself.

"You and I both know that anger is sometimes the best weapon. Give them a reason to fight. Tell them that June bug is dead Metais."

**JUNE:**

I wanted to sleep. Never have I been so tired. I'd said exactly what the snakes had whispered and now I was getting my reward. I was going to rest. I was going to miss the boy and his light. Though blinding he was, the rays were warm to the skin. Mine had turned hard and were cracking. Up my arms and down the legs, everything was being ripped apart from the inside out. There was a noise around me. Blaring and red but not red, it seeped into the very air.

The boy was being taken away, gone, gone, gone was my light. Bees burst before me and flew down my mouth, into my ears, all the way into my fingertips. Still the noise came, a thousand mirrors shattering. They were trying to stop it. They were trying to sew my skin back together. But they were trying to repair metal with thread.

I laughed and laughed, the queen was so silly, so stupid. Did she think that she could beat me? Did she really think that I would not sleep as I should? It felt so right to close my eyes, to keep my heart so slack. Every breath was hung from the rafters, their necks broken at sharp angles. I had won and now I could stop. At last I could remember exactly who I was, who I'd been. I was going to be free.

**DAY: **

An alarm had gone off. People had rushed into the room. I guess they had been recording her vitals. Someone had tried to drag me away, and I didn't even try to stop them. My body was not my own. I might as well have been stuffed. I couldn't move, couldn't see. All I could do was scream and scream in my own head.

I had killed her. The only girl I've ever loved was gone forever and it was my fault. I wanted to die. I wanted to bleed myself dry. I wanted to bang my head into the wall until I couldn't tell which way was up. But I couldn't do any of that. I had made a promise and I was going to keep it.

I don't know how long I laid there, spread eagle on the floor. I don't know if anyone came in, or if words were spoken to me. It didn't feel real, none of it. It had happened so fast, too fast. There had been so much to say and too little time.

Greif was nothing new to me. I'd lost almost my entire family. Still I'd managed to live through that. It was only a matter of getting up each morning and going through the motions. There was no quick fix to make a person happier. But this felt different. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. The guilt that weighed me down, festered in the pit of my stomach, it was going to be carried with me for the rest of my life.

I couldn't even bring myself to be mad at June. She'd made the decision I'd been too much of a coward to make. Despite her sickness she'd been completely correct. If she became a martyr then the war effort would be greatly helped. The Republic was sure to win now that the cure deal was off, meaning my rescue and the end to the epidemic.

Yet I couldn't bring myself to be happy for this. All I could do was twirl the ring on my finger, over and over until it left a mark. I couldn't even talk to Thomas when he told me the bad news, as if I didn't already know.

June is dead.

**Yup, a lot of you guys guessed it, sorry :P . But don't worry it's not over. I've still got a few more chapters to write up.**

**PS: Ok so the whole 'promise' thing is my version of their…engagement since the ring had kind of represented a wedding of sorts. The importance of that will come up later.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ok here we go, don't hate me for not really taking the plot any further…. -_- Cross country is starting up so I'll have less time but I'll really try to get these chapters up for you guys :D **

**Disclaimer: yeah I own nothing and stuff :P**

**DAY: Chapter 14**

How long have I been sitting here? How many seconds have I given to the silence of this empty room? Perhaps if I stay still enough and waste enough time the world will stand still if only for a moment, as to let me catch my breath.

I haven't been able to breath for a long time now.

Time doesn't matter. The war doesn't matter. I don't matter. Because she's gone and if the guilt in my bones is any indicator, it's my fault. If I hadn't been born she would still be alive. Her brother would be making her breakfast and making sure she didn't stay up too late. All those lives on that never ending list that runs through my head day after day could all have been avoided.

Yet here I am. What kind of sense does it make for me to be alive when I would rather have never started to live in the first place? In a heartbeat I would give it all up if only to get her lungs to take in another breath of air.

Never again would I hear that quick wit of hers or that rare laugh. Never again would I watch in fascination as she pulled every strand of that glinting brown hair into a seemingly impossible tale. Never again would I smile at how she treasured that handmade ring as though it could hold up a promise that paperclips were too weak to support.

All of those nevers felt like a red hot rock in the pit of my stomach, all of it coiled tightness that no amount of screaming could untangle. Something in me cried out though. Something in me that had never forgotten and never would, mourn for the loss of the girl I had never appreciated.

My greatest regret will never be what I told her. It will forever be what I didn't tell. I didn't explain what she already knew. I didn't let the words fall from my own lips what I had never meant for her to know. That those words from before…the ones that seemed so long ago and foolish, they were fake. They were words of little thought and greater protection. But I should never have protected her in the first place. I should have always stood shoulder to shoulder to her.

"All of it, please listen, I take it all back, every last word of it. Please let me have it back." No answer was given. For a fleeting moment I'd half expected one. She had always been so clever, if anyone could, she would have found a way to cheat death.

Nothing could move me. I refused every prompt and order or threat. They wanted me to talk to Anden, as though I would be able to wrench him back from the rage I'm sure he was in. They threatened to kill me as though they could do such a thing. Thomas or at least I'm assuming it was him, had destroyed every last sample of the cure to the plague. I had to be kept alive for at least a few more days.

Even I wasn't that lucky though. To have died such a noble death would have been a blessing. It must have only been days…a week? I had stopped counting. Troops forced open the door, burning with hate for the killers of their beloved June Iparis. But their anger was too late. All they could do was kill those who weren't even at fault, and save the one who had started this.

There must have been a point when I was dragged out…I couldn't recall walking on my own. Everything was numb from not moving. A medical team poked and prodded, asking me things that I refused to answer. At last I was left alone, shrouded in comforting darkness. The hum of the car I was in lulled me into a strange kind of sleep. It was the kind that taunted you with oblivion yet kept your thoughts running. But for once my thoughts were of little things, things that swept me up with warm feelings. The corner of a smile, the way her hair had moved down her back when she walked. Her voice called out in anger that I'd never admit to be entertaining.

Something tore me from the sugar laced doze. A pain small and sharp rang out. My hands had moved on their own accord. The metal of the ring had bit into the skin, drawing blood in the dim light, as though from beyond the grave she was chastising me. How dare I think of her so fondly when I lay alive and well, I am far too selfish.

"Are you awake?" I hadn't even realized that the car had stopped. The dark of the night seemed to suck all sense of realism out of me. It even took me a whole eight seconds to realize that it had been Anden speaking.

His face was one of pity. Pale and gaunt, as though he hadn't been eating right for the past few days. I'd expected his uniform to be rumpled but instead was clean and crisp, buttoned up to his chin. His white gloves looked more cream in the lamp light. The chains reflecting as he climbed inside, sitting before me. For a moment I wanted to tell him to go away, that I didn't want his eyes full of sorrow that mirrored my own. I didn't want to see someone as powerful as him lowered before me at last, only to be offering comfort.

"Does it look like I'm asleep?" My voice was much less intimidating than I'd wanted.

"The medics said you were good to go. Usually you would immediately be subjected to some interrogation, or at least have to file a report, but I think you've earned a night in your apartment." He gave a weak smile and I realized that Anden was older than me. It had never really crossed my mind but it was a fact. Despite all my knowledge and skill he would always beat me in age and it was during times like this that such a thing showed.

"That sounds like great fun and all but I have to tell you something." The sudden thought of what information I held hit me. I had to tell him, it didn't matter that I ached or that my very bones seemed too heavy to lift. She had done all she could to make sure that Anden knew.

"It can wait until morning. A meal will be delivered for both you and Eden tonight." I wanted to scream. Couldn't he just shut up for a moment and listen? "Don't worry about the press either; you'll have a full escort to the briefing."

"I'm immune." Two words, that's all they were. But she had died for them. Such a sacrifice seemed ridicules but it had been necessary despite how much it churned my stomach.

Truth be told Anden for once in his life listened and clamped that damn mouth of his shut.

**Ok I'm sorry about the shortness but I really thought this was a good stopping point. So yeah…there you go, pretty please review. I love reviews.**

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